


Fallen Angels Sing (And Sometimes Snuggle)

by redkislington



Series: Fallen Angels [1]
Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: M/M, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-07-17
Updated: 2012-04-22
Packaged: 2017-10-21 12:01:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 47,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redkislington/pseuds/redkislington
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam comes home to find Kris, but not just Kris - naked, winged Kris - and he’s here to stay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

 

Adam’s unlocking the door, ready to go inside and collapse on any available surface, but he stops when he hears running inside. His eyes flicker to the left curtain that flutters up, and he catches a glimpse of someone blurring by. He swallows and pushes the door open slowly, hand reaching for the umbrella by the door before he continues in. The living room looks relatively unharmed, and for a second he thinks he must been imagining things thanks to the forever long flight when he hears a crash in the bedroom, the sound of glass tinkling onto the hardwood floor echoing through the hall.

He peers toward the room, seeing the door cracked open a little. He sees his crimson sheets pooled on the floor, the dresser sitting crookedly with the drawers pulled out unevenly and the mirror that was once on top of it was now laying shattered on across the floor. He takes a deep breath before tapping the door open, and his eyes follow the sheets up until he sees- “Kris?”

Kris flushes, flinching under Adam’s gaze and - _oh_. “Why are you naked?”

Brown eyes fly up to him, and Kris sputters for a few seconds before gathering the sheets further around himself. “I-I can explain.” Then Adam sees something dark twitch behind him, and after staring for a few seconds he realizes that it’s feathery, looking soft to the touch, and _attached_ to Kris.

“Holy shit!” The umbrella drops to the floor with a bang and Adam almost smacks into the door stumbling back. The… wings flutter before they draw back, folding neatly against Kris’ back. Kris looks away, his fingers curling tightly in the red sheets. He draws in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Adam needs to go about this calmly… which is a lot easier said than done, what with the naked, suddenly winged Kris standing in the middle of his room. He takes a step forward, trying to concentrate on Kris’ face rather than the charcoal feathers behind him or the skin under the crimson cloth. “What happened…?”

Kris sighs, shaking his head and pulling the sheets up higher. “It’s a long story…” He pauses for a second, searching around on the floor instead of looking up at Adam. “Um… do you think I could…” He shifts the sheets, cheeks tinting to match the brilliant red. Adam understands the silent request, which really says something great about their friendship. They haven’t seen each other for nearly a year, and still they seem to be able to communicate without any kind of an effort, words included, apparently. He reaches into the dresser, pulling out a pair of sweats and a t-shirt that would be entirely too big for Kris but he’s pretty sure it would be better cover than the sheets.

Of course he didn’t factor in the wings, since Kris stares at the shirt for a moment before Adam has to switch it out for a tank top. Adam turns then, hearing the sheets drop to the floor and a few seconds pass before Kris speaks again, voice sounding frustrated. “Adam, I… I need some help.”

He turns around, puffing out a breath when he sees Kris mostly covered, but the tank top is pooled around his neck, caught on the wings. He still isn’t meeting Adam’s eyes.

With a sigh he moves behind Kris, staring for a few seconds - there’s a thin trail of red running down from where the black feathers meet his back, which makes Adam’s stomach twist a little - then grabs the tank top, pressing his hand gently against the feathers to pull the fabric down over them. They feel soft under his palm, almost silky, and despite all of how insane, crazy and weird this was, he smiles at that. After some fussing he manages to get them over the top, and Kris lets out a relaxed sigh. “Thank you.” Kris’ voice is watery, and when he turns Adam’s suspicions are confirmed by seeing the tear tracks down his friends face.

Adam smiles - he hopes it looks easier than it feels - then pulls Kris into his arms. Kris instantly face plants, like he usually does, but Adam hesitates for a moment. He usually rested his hands right where the wings were, pulling Kris in closer, and getting a face-full of feathers blows away any familiarity there is. He feels Kris breath hot against his neck - not in full sobs, but deep, almost painful-sounding breaths - and there’s wetness there, too. That brings him back, makes it familiar again.

He remembers rock week, that night when Kris thought he was going to go home. He was pissed and scared and cursing, all the while with tears streaming down his face and hitching half-breaths marring his words. He accepted Adam’s comfort immediately and, though being that close in such an intimate situation with the guy he was crushing on made his heart do flips and beat hard enough to make it hard to breathe, it was nice, peaceful. Just knowing he had Kris for another week made it that much sweeter.

“Adam?” Kris’ voice brings him back to the moment, and he looks down into brown, blood-shot eyes. He can feel the muscles of Kris’ back moving and sees the wings slump down with his shoulders, feeling the feathers at the base tickling the tips of Adam’s fingers. The brown eyes drop back to the floor. “Can we, um… sit down?” His voice is subdued, making Adam have to strain to hear. “I have something to tell you.”

He nods, moving them over to the bed - which Adam remembers as being made before he left weeks ago and is now spread all across the room. After checking to make sure Kris’ newer parts would be alright sitting down he looks back at Kris. He’s smiling for the first time since Adam found him, but it disappears as soon as Adam speaks up. “Okay, what is it?”

Kris sighs, picking at the fabric of the sweatpants for a few seconds before looking up at Adam. “Katy kicked me out.” Adam’s heart breaks a little, seeing the slight trembling in Kris’ hands he reaches out and squeezes. He hears a little gasp, and there are a few seconds of silence, before Kris sits up a bit straighter. Mocha spheres lift up to meet Adam’s eyes and the intensity there is enough to stop his breathing. _Focus, you need to be here for him._

“Is it because of…” Adam nods behind Kris, toward the wings then frowns when he’s answered with a bob of Kris’ head. That’s ridiculous, it’s still Kris just with… a new addition. True, at first he was more than a little surprised but he wouldn’t end a relationship over it. Adam looks him over. Really, Kris is even more beautiful now. The charcoal feathers contrast nicely with Kris’ lightly tanned skin, and the way they never stop moving, always twitching or fluttering, or how they seem to display every emotion Kris has. Adam lets out a small breath, licking his lips and releasing Kris’ hands before looking away. “You can stay here as long as you want.”

He catches the edge of a wing sagging a little out of the corner of his eye before Kris stands up. “You don’t have to…” Adam looks up, seeing the wings slump further, and a dejected look on Kris’ face he never wants to see there again.

Adam grabs Kris by the shoulder, feeling the feathers twitch up against his hand and tickle his wrist. _It’s… weird. But I can get used to it, if they come with Kris I’ll have to deal with it_. “It’s fine.” He smiles when Kris turns toward him. “Really.”

Kris stares few a few seconds before making a small, choked off sound and planting himself into Adam’s chest again. Adam just smiles and accepts it, bringing them over to the bed again and settling himself in as Kris let out all of his frustrations over however long they’d been haunting him.

He pretends to notice that Kris seems to calm down more when Adam’s hands move up from the circles they were making in Kris’ lower back to stroke the wings soothingly. He pretends even more so not to notice the shudders and cut off keening noises that are a result.

 

 

 

“So, any idea where they came from?”

Kris shrugs, making the wings move with his shoulders and the movement draws Adam’s eyes to the deep curve in Kris’ back, the line dipping up and disappearing into the jeans he’s wearing. Adam swallows, then chokes, and Kris drops the spoonful of frosted flakes back into the bowl before rubbing his back until the coughing subsides.

Kris smirks, then, and sits up, taking his bowl with him. “I dunno, man.” He takes the last spoonful then stands. “I just woke up with my back hurting a few days ago and I decided to sleep it off…” He trails off for a bit, the smile slipping before he answers again, lower. “Then I wake up and there they are.”

 _Well there’s obviously something missing there._ Adam watches Kris leave, charcoal feathers trailing after out of the door. _What’s he not telling me?_

He’s just about to get up and follow Kris to find out, when he’s knocked out of his thoughts - and bed - by a wall of laughing, shirtless Kris.

 

 

  
Kris - he’s very unsurprised - makes himself at home within the week. Adam wakes up now with the sound of the TV on outside his door - cartoons, of course - and walks out to see Kris laying on the floor on his stomach, the charcoal wings fanned out, wearing only boxers and writing away in his lyric notebook. He’s glad to see that Kris is still writing. He can’t help but wonder, though, how Kris is going to perform. If people will let him perform with those wings.

Adam moves onto the floor beside him, fingers trailing over the feathers gently. He feels them twitch under his touch and Kris looks up. His hair’s still mussed up, and he has marks on his cheek from the sheets still. It’s frighteningly similar to another one of those nights they’d spent together; any of them, really. He prefers the last time he’d seen Kris, when they’d decided to hang out for the weekend via sleepover. He can’t help but grin when he remembers one of those nights they decided to watch a horror movie, as Kris said was ‘basic sleepover rules’ and smiled dopily at him while holding the DVD. It was another one of those millions of odd moments where it seemed domestic  and loving without them ever dating - Kris curled up beside him and burying his face into Adam’s shoulder at the exceedingly gory parts or whatever he just didn’t want to see. About halfway through Kris grabbed Adam’s hand and squeezed whenever he jumped at something in the movie. _I wonder if we’ll be able to do that again._

As if Kris was reading his mind. “Wanna see a movie tonight?” He shimmies in the spot a little, and it’s adorable and dorky and sexy all at the same time, then his wings flutter. “I kinda miss that old sense of normality when I didn’t have these.”

Adam smiles. “Yeah.” The smile quickly turns into a smirk. “My pick.” He has a few good horror movies…

 

  


Adam ends up watching more of Kris than the movie. Not that he expected anything different. Kris was just… well…

“I hate this, man.” Kris giggles, curling a wing around in front of his face again. “I’ll never be able to stay in a hotel again.” Adam laughs as Kris elbows him, then even more when a woman screams and starts running from the killer on screen and Kris clings to his arm, grimacing cutely. “Shut up.”

Adam feels feathers tickling his neck and one of the wings wraps around behind his back, falling closed like a blanket over his left side. He abruptly shuts up and stares over at Kris again. He doesn’t seem to notice - actually now he’s peeking through the feathers at the end of the other wing. Adam smiles, and pulls Kris a little closer, and suddenly he’s wrapped up in both of them, like a giant bear hug with warm feathery tendrils tickling his skin, and he wiggles and laughs at it.

He chokes mid-giggle when Kris’ lips meet his collar bone. He stiffens when he feels teeth and tongue followed by warm breath, then swallows. “Kris…?”

“Hmm?” Kris looks up at him lazily, that trademark sideways tilt there, before he nuzzles into Adam’s chest. “Comfy.”

Adam can’t really find argument to that, so he just tucks an arm around Kris’ waist, clicks off the TV and DVD player and settles back against the couch with Kris mixing between rubbing his cheek against Adam’s skin like a cat and kneading it with his lips and teeth.

 

 

 

When they wake up, Adam figures it’s just Kris being, well… Kris; teasing and always toeing that line between friends and more. But when he rubs his fingers through Kris’ hair to wake him, Kris just shifts up a little, wings loosening and fluttering in a stretch before he grins sleepily and lifts himself up to press their mouths together.

And, he notes, it’s not a friendly kiss, not a quick peck and gone. In fact, he’s shifting onto Adam’s lap, all lazy and languid movements. Hands catching around Adam’s kinked neck, thumbs tilting his jaw up as Kris settles himself over his lap, straddling him. When they part, it’s slow, and with a smack that echoes in the too-early morning. Adam lifts his eyes up to see Kris’ lashes fluttering, and he can almost swear he feels the breeze from them, then Kris focuses. “It hurt.”

 _Huh?_ It feels almost like he gets whiplash, going from gentle kissing to this. He manages to muster up enough of his brain to say something. “What?” Not quite as eloquent as he hoped for, though.

The wings flutter and then bend so the feathers on the tips are caressing Adam’s hipbones peaking above his jeans. “When they came in.” He shrugs. “I was asleep for a bit until it felt like… well, exactly what you’d imagine it’d feel like.” Adam winces, and Kris smiles ruefully. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” He leans down and rubs their noses together and Adam almost wants to laugh at how Kris keeps going from sweet gestures to these odd and flinch-inducing explanations. “Not with you.”

That makes him stop. Adam clamps his hands on Kris’ hips to get his attention. “What do you mean?” He frowns when Kris tilts his head. “Did it with Katy?”

Kris stares for a while, worrying his lip like he’s debating on telling the whole truth or not, then nods. “Yeah.” His fingers brush down along Adam’s pulse line, catching and stopping in the dip at his collarbone. “As soon as I saw you it didn’t hurt.” Kris looks back up at him from his fingertips then, and it feels like a big moment. Like the world imploding but in a way that makes his heart pound joyously in his chest. Good world implosion. Kris smirks and for a second Adam worries that Kris gained mind reading abilities or something before all thought is sucked out by slightly chapped lips on his, and fingers kneading his sore neck muscles.

Silence fills the room then, just the muted sound of Kris’ fingers working, the wings rolling with the bones in his wrists, and whistles and chirps from rising birds outside the window. Adam actually jumps when Kris clears his throat, earning a chuckle as Kris settles back in after being bucked out of his place. “It’s… a little hard to come to terms with that but…” He nods slowly, and black feathers make a wall around them, blocking out any sounds from outside the ebony cocoon. Kris lifts his hands to Adam’s hair, licks his lips and then grins. “This feels right.”

That’s all the warning he gets before Kris attacks his mouth with lips, tongue, and teeth in a way Adam never imagined he was capable. With a groan he coils his arms around a slender, bare waist, and as soon as the wings part away from them he lifts Kris up and maneuvers them to the bedroom.

 

 

 

Kris is… beautiful. He’s so much more than that, sprawled out across Adam’s bed, completely bare, the red sheets against black feathers against light, trembling skin; but at the moment he can’t think of any other word for it. The wings are spread out as far as possible, and he takes a moment to stare because - honestly - they’re enormous in comparison to Kris’ body, each one his height alone if not more. Adam’s eyes scan down from blown-up pupils, clenching/unclenching hands, and the rapid rise and fall of Kris chest to the thin - sculpted, he notes - trail of hair leading down to the perfect package.

Keeping his eyes trained on his prize, Adam moves onto the bed, kneeling between Kris’ legs, then coils his fingers around Kris’ cock. He hears a sharp intake of air above, and something moving against sheets, but keeps focused. Not that it’s entirely difficult.

He squeezes lightly, hearing Kris pant and seeing the sheets pull into his tightening fists, then leans down to flick his tongue over the tip. Kris bucks, then relaxes, and mutters a few obscenities. Adam looks up, seeing pleading brown eyes staring down at him, then, all the while keeping his eyes locked with Kris’, lowers his mouth onto Kris' cock, clamps his lips around it and sucks. He watches Kris’ eyes roll back, seeing black feathers almost vibrating against the red, then returns to concentrating on the task at hand. The noises Kris is making certainly aren’t hindering him.

In his head, he’s keeping note of what makes Kris arch up, what makes him moan and his eyes screw shut and toes curl. He’s so concentrated on memorizing all these little things that when Kris bucks and starts muttering a garbled stream of words he can’t discern aside from his own name and the first taste of Kris splashing on his tongue it surprises him. He swallows and groans around Kris’ cock; as ridiculous as he feels thinking this, he thinks he’s pretty much addicted to the taste.

Adam leans back on his heels and looks down at Kris. The wings are twitching behind him, and then they move up to wrap around Adam’s shoulders and pull him down until their mouths meet. He smiles as he feels Kris’ face scrunch up for a moment at the taste still on Adam’s tongue, then he’s being rolled onto his back.

When they part Kris stares down at him for a moment, before grinning and nuzzling into the crook of Adam’s throat. Normally he’d be more than fine with his tactile angel but the throbbing between his legs is pretty insistent. “Kris…?”

Kris just brings a finger up over Adam’s lips and grins. “Shh…” He moves off of Adam, sitting over on the side. “I’ll take care of you.” Adam gasps as he feels a soft touch over his stomach, moving steadily down, and glances to see a single black feather twisting in Kris’ fingers.

He thrusts up, nearly biting a hole in his lip when it drags over the head, the sensitivity and gentle touch making him feel a bit insane and a lot loved and everything else that’s good and right that he could ever feel.

Seven minutes later he has one of the most intense orgasms in his life, and Kris just stands and pads over to the bathroom with a wash cloth before cleaning him up, kissing him the entire time with enough love to make Adam’s heart go crazy in his chest. They curl together in the bed a few moments later, back to sleep as the morning continues on into afternoon, Adam curled around Kris and Kris curled around Adam and nothing outside of their haven of black feathers and crimson sheets.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. So Close Your Eyes (But Don't Dream Too Deep)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Exactly a month and five days after Adam’ finds Kris, there’s reports of more of these angels popping up everywhere. Adam starts reading stories online or watching clips from the news while Kris is sleeping, and what he finds makes his stomach drop."

 

 

 

 

 

Exactly a month and five days after Adam’ finds Kris, there’s reports of more of these angels popping up everywhere. Adam starts reading stories online or watching clips from the news while Kris is sleeping, and what he finds makes his stomach drop.

Most of the stories center around the hate crimes; wings getting broken or sawed off. He almost feels sick watching a video uploaded of a group of high school students taunting a winged peer, pulling on the ends and ripping feathers out. He reads a few about tests being done to find out about them; where the wings came from, what other changes occur. There’s not much so far, but he constantly checks it when he has the time, trying to find out everything he can about this.

Beside him, Kris murmurs and turns onto his side from his stomach to curl around Adam’s leg through the sheet. Adam smiles, closes the browser in his phone and sets it aside before leaning down and pressing his lips gently against Kris’ temple. “Hey baby.” Kris wiggles and it’s all he has to keep from giggling. He coils his hand around over Kris’ waist, up his back, then strokes the black feathers for a moment, watching Kris’ lips slowly curl. “Time to wake up.”

The smile disappears and Kris shakes his head, tucking himself further against Adam’s leg. “Dun wanna.” Adam has to roll his eyes again, even if he feels the same way. They both know that Adam has to leave, get back to work in the studio, and after reading all the horrid things that happened Adam is not going to let Kris out, at least not until things calm down considerably.

They wrestle around for a bit before Adam finally manages to get out of the bed, then it’s a war with Kris’ pouting as he’s getting ready that he calls as a tie, since he just can’t resist kissing that beautiful bottom lip. He pulls away when his phone starts buzzing on the nightstand, most likely Lane making sure he’s coming in. He sighs, then pulls away. “Sorry.” He strokes a hand through Kris’ hair, then presses his lips against Kris’ forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Kris huffs, crossing his arms and looking every bit the petulant child, wings folding like a frown behind him. Adam watches for a moment then smiles, tucks it quickly into his jacket before Kris can see, and moves out to the phone buzzing in his hand again. When he’s in the car he sends off a quick text, then slumps against the wheel and stares at his home for a while. A little over a month ago he was in the same spot; alone, tired and coming off a three week relationship lull. Seeing Kris there - wings or not - brought a lot of hope for him; maybe he won’t be alone anymore, and when he’s tired he’ll have someone to hold… To have him as more than a friend is the best thing he could ever ask for.

His phone buzzes again and he groans, then starts up the car, gives one last look to the house before starting off to the studio.

 

 

 

“I’m home.” Adam moves into the house, feeling drained and tired. It wasn’t so much the work that was the problem. He smiles slightly to himself. _My Kris battery needs recharged._ He drops his things by the door and moves into their bedroom, finding Kris sitting on the crimson sheets, black wings slanted so low they touch the floor. _Shit._

“Kris?” He presses a hand to Kris’ shoulder, and the brunette - and the wings - shoot up like his touch is electric. He lets out a surprised laugh when Kris plants his face into Adam’s stomach, small arms coiling around his waist, black feathers nearly vibrating behind him.

Kris rubs his cheek against the soft cotton of his shirt, the contented sigh almost sounding like a purr. “Missed you…” When he looks up Adam’s heart sinks with the pouting of Kris’ lip. Adam can practically hear what Kris is thinking at the moment. And there was absolutely no way it’s going to happen.

“K-Kris… I-”

Kris sighs, shaking his head. “Adam… Please.” _Oh fuck not the puppy eyes…_

Adam huffs, brushing his fingers through Kris’ puppy soft, still-bed-mussed hair, the tips trailing gently against the helix of Kris’ ear. “Babe… You…” Adam’s lips slowly clamp shut, and he shifts onto the bed next to Kris. The small arms twisted around him loosen enough to slide up over his arms and coil around his neck, the same place where Kris was making a home in by lodging his face in that crook that seemed specifically made for him. Like when Adam was being made someone molded that spot right there just for Kris. Hell, every part of Adam seemed to be made just for Kris.

“I?” Adam looks up into huge doe brown eyes; curiosity, love, desire and a pinch of manic swimming in the mocha pools. He knew deep down somewhere under all the protective instincts and everything that Kris would eventually have to leave, people would have to know about this. It’s not like he could keep his angel all to himself - though, fuck, he really wanted to. How he would love to lock Kris - and himself - in the bedroom for all eternity if he could, finding what every scratch, caress and kiss did and where. But, sadly, they both have to leave. His eyes flicker to the charcoal feathers behind Kris. _I wonder if they need stretching or something. Oh crap I hope by keeping him in this long something hasn’t gotten damaged._

The snapping of fingers in his face makes him focus again, and he feels himself blush when Kris is staring at him patiently, waiting for what he was going to say. _Might as well bite the bullet, I can’t avoid it now._ “You…” He smiles lightly, bringing a hand up to cradle Kris’ cheek, and he feels his smile grow when his angel tilts his head into his touch. “You are so… so special to me. And…” Deep breath. “Before I would’ve been afraid of losing you for someone better…” He watches as Kris’ brown eyes harden and he glares for a moment as Adam continues. “Now I’m just… I…” He trails off with a sigh, and looks down into his lap, he has no idea how to say this, he’s sure Kris hasn’t seen any of those horrible stories he has, but…

His thoughts trail off along with his words when he feels a gentle touch against the hand supporting Kris’ head. When he looks up Kris is smiling at him, soft and sweet and comforting like his hand against Adam’s. “It’s fine.” The wings flutter behind Kris’ back, like they’re stretching for a moment, before Kris scoots closer to him - almost crawling into his lap, really - and they make a black wall around them. The feathers feel like they’re tickling the skin of his back even through the shirt he’s wearing. “I get it.” He turns his head enough to press his lips to Adam’s palm. It rockets what feels like a static shock through his body, up and down his spine and making his heart beat double time. When he turns his head back Kris is smirking. “You don’t have to worry about me, though.”

Adam really wants to argue, but Kris is giving him that look that makes it unfairly impossible. Instead he just sighs, and leans over the short distance to meld their mouths together. When they part he lifts his other hand up to Kris’ other cheek, caressing the stubble-rough skin there. “Just… Not alone, okay?” Kris hesitates for a moment and Adam feels his stomach sink, thinking of Kris out there alone, with all the dangers for him…

Kris smiles, nodding and Adam is sure his face splits somehow with how fast and wide he smiles. He pulls himself into Kris again, fingers winding into soft brown hair and lips smashing together with enough force it stings. The black feathers around him twitch and vibrate, leaving a shaky, zig-zagging trail of tingling flesh down his back and up his thighs when they pull back toward Kris.

When they part, they’re both panting wildly, and Adam is sure his pupils are just as blown as Kris’. Adam licks his lips and the very next second he’s being pushed back onto the bed, Kris’ mouth back on his and hands scrabbling to get at the skin below his shirt. He just groans along with Kris’ rushed pants and lets go, letting his head fall back onto the mattress, eyes falling shut just as Kris’ crooked lips find heated flesh.

The pleasured cries seemed to hang in the quiet late-afternoon air of the room, loud enough to send a flurry of birds perched on the tree just outside into the skies with the sound on their wing beats. Moments later the boys are found curled into each other, Kris’ face tucked into Adam’s collarbone, lips and teeth absently attacking the tender flesh there, while Adam’s lips press lazily and repeatedly against his hair, fingers tracing lightly around where black feathers meet tan skin. It was peaceful. Right. The calm before the storm.

 

 

 

 _I knew it, I fucking knew it._ Adam was grinding his teeth, and probably gripping Kris a little too hard, but he really couldn’t help it. He cursed a few times more, both out loud and just to himself, before pulling Kris onto the counter.

“I’m fine.” Kris’ voice was shaking. Adam wanted to get back into his car and find the people that did this, make them pay for harming his Kris. A memory flickers across his mind, times back in high school when he’d come back with a bruised heart, ego and body. Seeing Kris, wings tattered with a few feathers missing - pulled out, those fuckers - the beginnings of a black eye and a bloody nose, it was eerily similar. Adam’s shoulders sink a little and he sighs, turning around toward the sink with a wash cloth in hand.

The kitchen goes silent, only the sound of the tap and the squish of the cloth as he wrings it out. With a careful hand he wipes away the stripe of red along Kris’ chin and lips, flinching at Kris’ pained hiss when he wraps it gently around his nose. “Sorry.” Kris looks down at him as he tilts his head back. He knows Adam’s saying that for more than just that quick flash of pain. _I shouldn’t have left him alone at all._ Adam looks back to the black feathers and frowns. _Things were going so well; sure there was a bit of surprise as we walked along but…_ He feels a gentle touch against his skin, tracing along his lips and lifts his head to meet Kris’ eyes again.

Kris is smiling at him; it’s weary and small but still there, and to Adam it’s like a lighthouse in a storm, giving him a sense of hope that he’ll come home again, that everything is and will be okay. The touch trails slowly down off his lips, pausing on his jaw for a moment before dropping back to Kris’ lap. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” Kris shrugs. “It’s not like you were the one who did this.” Kris straightens up a bit, dropping the red soaked cloth to the counter before tilting his head back down, squaring his jaw in that way he does that makes Adam want to pounce him rather than hear him out. “If they think these make me a freak or whatever, let them.” The wings straighten up as well as they can with the tiles behind them, almost like they’re agreeing with Kris’ words. He would smile just because of that but the look Kris is giving him… that there is more than enough to have him smiling for the rest of the day. Probably even the rest of the year, really.

 _It feels like I’m the only person alive except him when he looks at me like that. Like I’m that important to him…_ Kris, of course, seems to catch on to those words through their weird could-be telepathic link. “Right now… you’re the only one that matters; if you hated them, or anything about me, then I’d care.” Adam really has to roll his eyes, because, honestly? Kris is fidgeting like he thinks Adam _does_ find something wrong with him. He remembers it back before, when they were living in each others spaces on Idol. Adam and his lack of filter would always say something about Kris being adorable this or sexy that Kris would fidget and he’d stumble over words before letting out a small - forced - acceptance. It’s times like those that Adam wished he could bring Kris into his mind and show him all the things Adam loves about him - of course, it’s everything, right down to the last of the sparse freckles that Kris has hidden all over and probably loves to pay attention to more than Kris loves to do the same to his - horrid, unlike Kris’ which are adorable - freckles.

Instead, Adam brings his hand up to Kris’ face, feeling a small swell of anger when he sees Kris’ flinch at the contact. He takes a breath, then moves right into Kris’ space, slotting himself in the area between his open legs. Kris’ breath catches and Adam almost smirks when he sees black feathers start trembling behind him. “I love them.” Adam reaches his other hand back to gently caress the silk-soft feathers, watching with delight when Kris’ eyes flutter closed for a moment and he barely chokes back a moan. _He’s so easy._ “I love everything about you.” He brings the hand down from the wings to Kris’ hip, thumbing up his tank top to massage one of the beauty marks he knows is there, dotting sugar-sweet on the peak of his hipbone. “Right down to the last freckle, hair, what have you.” He leans into Kris’ space more, slotting his face into Kris’ neck and tonguing the dip at his collar bone. He hears Kris cuss and feels him shift; he can very obviously see the rise in his jeans which, tempting, but he’s not quite done making his point. He lashes his tongue one last time over the flesh, drawing an exaggerated shiver from the angel below him, then pulls away, looking into nearly black eyes. “I love you, and nothing is ever going to change that.” He pauses for a moment. “Which gives me all the more reason to run back out there and find those assholes who did this.”

He can’t help but chuckle when Kris’ legs immediately coil around him, calloused hands clasping possessively on his shoulders. “You are not going anywhere.” That growl definitely gets his attention, and as soon as Kris’ legs tighten to bring him in closer, pressing Kris’ erection hot against his stomach, every other thought about everything else except this moment is gone. He shudders involuntarily when he feels the bite of Kris’ nails digging into the base of his scalp, tugging at his hair, and then - _dear fuck I'm not going to last long with this_ \- those beautiful, sexy lips dragging along his throat, chapped skin catching wonderfully along his. “You are going to take care of this-” He lets out a moan when Kris thrusts his hips and drives a line of fire up his stomach. “-right now. Talking is for later.” He has exactly one second to think _good, because I’m really not through with this conversation_ , before he’s ripping the tank top off of Kris and attacking his jeans, Kris’ hands leaving burning impressions all over his body. He briefly wonders when his shirt came off, because Kris is touching his bare skin, but then he finally gets the button of Kris’ jeans undone and - _holy shit he’s not wearing anything underneath._

Kris just giggles - it’s not entirely innocent - and caresses his bicep, gentle hand turning into a drag of nails last second and making him buck into Kris with a groan. “Figured the wings make getting everything off hard enough.” He winks and Adam really has to go bite on that gorgeous pouting lip. Right now. He clamps onto Kris’ mouth, capturing every moan as he tears the jeans off and sucks on that wonderfully sinful tongue. He steps out of his own jeans, glad he decided to opt out of the skin tight pair that he’d have to wiggle his way out of, then lifts Kris off the counter, hissing as the action rubs their cocks together in a way that is wonderful and torturous and there is absolutely no way they are getting to the bedroom.

He swipes an arm over the table, sending everything on top of it across the floor, then lays Kris over it. He already looks thoroughly debauched; skin flushing a pretty red, entire body vibrating, cock practically drooling pre-come onto his stomach. Adam groans and starts feeling around under the table for the lube he taped there just for this type of occasion. He knows he grins like a maniac when his fingers find it, and he just laughs along when Kris snorts, kicking him lazily and muttering something about Adam being a sex boy scout or something.

Adam makes him stop and go into a frenzy of moaning and thrashing on the table top. He hides his smirk in the skin of Kris’ thigh and twists his fingers just right inside Kris, earning a loud keen and feathers hitting his shoulder telling him to get on with and stop teasing. Adam nips at the sensitive skin under his mouth, and pulls back to see Kris’ face as he draws his fingers out, slicking himself up with a shiver before lining up.

He fully intended on going slow, letting Kris adjust, but Kris apparently has a different idea, squeezing his legs around Adam’s hips and pulling him in so Adam is nearly fully sheathed inside him. They both shudder and moan together, and Adam glares for a second, biting down a smile when Kris just smirks at him, then starts moving.

“Fuck.” Kris cusses, moving a hand up to grip Adam’s bicep. Adam knows he’s not going to last much longer, so he brings one of his hands down to Kris’ cock, the other moving up to caress trembling black feathers. Thrust, pull and pet. It’s just a few seconds of that and then Kris is arching up, half moaning, half screaming his name and spilling over both their stomachs. It’s not even a full second and Adam falls over the edge after him, hips stuttering and panting wet-hot-heat against Kris’ collar bone.

When he’s able to move other then pressing his lips against Kris’ throat, he lifts his hand from the feathers, smiling slightly when they twitch under him along with Kris. “Ass.” Kris weakly smacks at him, but he’s grinning. He sighs when Adam pulls out, and damn, Kris is absolutely beautiful. He’s sticky with sweat and the equivalent of a noodle, but he’s amazing. Kris seems to agree with him on some part at least. “I’m all gross now.” He sighs dramatically and Adam can’t help but snicker at it. “You have to carry me to the shower after you peel me off this table.”

It’s not exactly a hardship, carrying Kris into the shower and having the hot water spray down over them like rain as they kiss and kiss and kiss.

 

 

 

Adam really loves grooming Kris’ wings, having his beautiful man seated in his lap brushing out the drops of water and having Kris practically purring under his ministrations. Tonight’s not that different, aside from the few times he finds patches of sore-looking skin where feathers were pulled out and he sees red for a moment. Kris, though, is a bit quiet.

At first he’s worried it’s because it hurts him. “Adam?” His tone immediately makes him think otherwise.

“Hmm?” He puts down the brush they’d gotten a few weeks ago, when the feathers were so terribly untidy they had to. Kris turns in his lap, and he’s not meeting Adam’s eyes. _Not good._

“I… I know you probably won’t like this but…” He sighs and one of the wings twitches. Kris takes a deep breath and looks up, brown eyes boring directly into blue. “I want to go talk to 19, tomorrow. I…” Kris trails off after seeing whatever is in Adam’s face. He doesn’t exactly like the idea, especially after today, but… he can understand. It’s pretty unlikely that someone didn’t snap a picture of them while they were out. Not only was it pretty obvious they were a thing now, but Kris obviously had something new that a lot of people hated. There was damage control to be done, along with finding out about Kris’ career.

“It’s fine, babe.” Kris looks back up at him, and Adam takes that opportunity to press a kiss to Kris’ mouth, hoping to show just how much he understands and will support Kris. When he pulls away those brown eyes are considerably shiner, and Kris is giving him that you’re-the-only-person look, again.

He smiles and brushes gentle fingers through Kris’ hair, kissing away the tears when they spill over. The next second he’s embraced by silky smooth skin and damp feathers, Kris muttering a litany of thanks against his throat. Adam just closes his eyes, coiling his arms around Kris, and prays that everything will turn out okay.

 

 

 

 

 


	3. View From The Other Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kris’ new life from his point of view.

 

 

 

 

 

Kris figured everything had been going so well.

He sighed, fingers pressing down on the keys and sending a jumble of discordant notes into the too-quiet air of his apartment. Katy was gone doing… something. He felt a brief pang of guilt for not even knowing or caring where his wife was, then it faded away with thoughts that made him slam onto the keys again in a flicker of anger. Most of it was directed at himself. The rest…

He huffed out another breath and got up, wincing as it reminded him of the red-hot pain at his shoulders. It nearly knocked his legs out from under him, but somehow he’d managed to stay up. He’d dealt with it for a year already, he can deal some more.

 _Or you can just call him, tell him, about everything._ Kris flinched, shoved the voice back to the place he’d kept it for so long and made his way to the living room. He hadn’t even told Katy, how the hell could he tell Adam? Adam that he’d known for only a year outside of Idol but trusted with everything that Kris had and was. Adam that his arms and hands itched to wrap around and touch. Adam, who Kris was…

He flopped onto the couch, face first, letting out a small whine at how it made everything hurt again. His shoulder blades throbbed, and it was almost like a command to get off his ass and call him. Kris decided to fix the throw pillow under his head and wander into sleep instead.

 

 

 

Brown eyes flutter open in the light, opening wide for a few seconds before squeezing shut when the sun maneuvers through the blinds to fall over his face. Kris lifts up, stretching for a moment, wings fluttering behind him. He looks down to the bed beside him and smiles slightly when he sees Adam curled completely around his pillow.

Usually, he’d just crawl back into bed and wait until Adam wakes up. Today is different. He shifts off the bed as quietly as he can, then pads out of the bedroom. When he’s well out of reach of the spell of constant-happiness Adam seems to wrap around him, his lips fall, and his mind wanders to his dream. It was more of a memory, than anything… He huffs and glances back toward the bedroom door. _I really should tell Adam everything… but…_

 _That’s rather sad, actually. My mind can’t even come to terms with this still. How am I supposed to tell Adam when I can’t even think it?_ He catches a brief glimpse of black feathers in the mirror, and a wave of shame and anger washes over him before retreating to Adam again. Adam loves him, he doesn’t care that Kris is this… that he is…

“A freak…” His voice is small and crackly and he lets out a self-depreciating laugh because of it. A few more steps further and he's standing outside the studio, and he almost starts smiling again when he remembers a bit of the dream; sitting at the piano with absolutely no ideas or anything of what to do. Being apart from Adam had done that to him. Slowly his inspiration sapped away and he was left with nothing but that dull pain reminding him of _why_ everything had left, and what he had to do to get it back. Now, standing in front of the keys everything just floods in; music working through every vein and nerve and it all centered around one thing, one name…

His wings twitch in the direction of the bedroom and he knows instantly that Adam is awake. It was that odd connection he’d had ever since those first days in the mansion. At first, he’d had no idea what was going on; he’d always know when Adam was there in the room with him, or looking for him and the exact distance they were from each other. If something was wrong, and when Adam would finally cave to tell the truth, if ever. And at the finale it all clicked, when they were backstage and he felt smooth, soft, glossed lips press against his temple. It was like the contact jolted something awake and alive inside of him, making him restless and cold whenever he wasn’t in contact with the owner of those lips. The time they spent away was when the dull aches would come in, a little longer and aches would turn into pains that had him waking up in the middle of the night, tears staining his pillow and wife’s shoulder. And something itched just under his shoulder blades, foreboding and at the same time relieving. Like he was just this bit closer to becoming who he was meant to be or something.

“What’s with the impromptu concert at six in the morning?” Kris’ fingers still on the keys - he doesn’t even remember when he’d started playing - and he looks up to see a still half-asleep Adam in the doorway, black hair sticking at every angle possible, freckles like millions of pinpoints toward home in the warm morning light. His body reacts with a sense of right, a claim screaming in his ears, before he smirks.

“You know what it’s like then the inspiration strikes.” He’s sure Adam doesn’t know quite nearly how much relief is carried on the word for him; after all, the mate never knows just how bad it is until they’re told. Kris breath hitches, and his brain essentially flat-lines at the word. _Mate…_ He feels his wings tremble and looks up at Adam again. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to notice the change in Kris’ body - it’s amazing really, it feels like he’s about to snap his spine from how tense he is.

Adam chuckles softly, pushing off the door frame he's leaning on and coiling his arms around Kris’ chest from behind. Feeling Adam’s touch against his wings is almost like a explosion across his nerves, everything crying out how right it is and how great and euphoric Adam makes him feel. He shudders and he feels Adam’s grin against his scalp. “I certainly do.” The freckled hands move slowly up and down his stomach, and he feels himself flush when he twitches enough on the bench to smack against the front of the keyboard, hands flinching on the keys and making sound ring out in the quiet, morning air.

He gets a sense of deja-vu for a moment, then melts into Adam, discarding it and taking instead the smooth, soft press of lips on his, freckled and upside-down but still so good and sweet and right. _Just how it’s always supposed to be._

 

 

 

 

 _  
_


	4. There's No Need To Hide Away (We Are Just The Same)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 19 decides hiding would be best; Kris agrees, Adam not so much.

 

 

 

 

 

When Adam first hears Kris’ ‘plan’, he’s more than a little against it. He actually thinks of _hiding_ his _wings_ , going through all the pain and discomfort of wrapping them up tight enough to bury under his clothes in order to perform again. Be accepted. It makes him hate how everyone is throwing such a fit over this, angels among them he’d figure people would be at peace, have that same sense of whole that he does. Instead of… _this…_

“Adam?” Kris voice is strained when he walks in, face contorted in a way Adam never, ever wants to see, and an old flannel shirt on, wings wrapped under layers of bandages. “How… how is it?”

Adam grimaces and just barely stops himself from saying something along the lines of _disgusting and horrid_ , then forces a smile. “Fine.” He drops his eyes to the floor, tracing patterns in the wood. “Can’t tell a thing.”

It’s quiet for a while, then Kris is moving across the room toward him, coiling his arms around Adam. It’s horrible, the small gasps that escape as he does, it hurts for him to do this. He can’t let Kris do that to himself. “No, you know what, it’s not.” Adam pushes him off, pulling the shirt open with one tug and then scrabbling at the bandages. “They need to understand that this is who you are, there’s nothing wrong with you. You don’t need to fucking hide just because some assholes don’t accept you.” He finally finds the knot holding it all together and tugs, then watches with relief as black feathers wash into view. Kris lets out a giant burst of air, explosive and loud in the still room, brown eyes disappearing behind fluttering lids. He clasps his hands around Kris, massaging at the base where feathers meet skin. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, understand?” A soft press of lips and Kris shudders under him. “You are amazing and beautiful and every time I see you, you take my breath away.” A sharp intake of air when a hand moves up to fix some of the feathers, combing through with careful fingers. They both flinch when his touch glides over one of the bare, still-healing areas of the wing, where black silk has been stolen away by undeserving, ungrateful hands. “If anyone ever says differently, about _anyone_ that’s like you, then fuck ‘em.”

He watches as Kris’ lips curl slightly, then feels them press softly against his mouth, the smaller man walking them back until they both fall onto the mattress, lips still locked. Each separating smack sounds like a firecracker in the room, and eventually he just kind of has to hitch a leg up to straddle him, coiling one set of fingers through hair, the other finding a home in the feathers, wings stretching wide across the room. It’s beautiful and devastating all at once, how ethereal Kris is like this, _overpowering_. Adam’s used to being in control, and even before the wings and everything it was hard enough keeping his cool and a steady mind around the man. Now, he finds himself sometimes wanting to just lay out and let Kris take everything, do anything he wanted. He’d let go completely like he’d never done before, and not regret a thing.

Adam lets out a breathy moan when hands clamp onto his waist, thumbs pushing to get under the fabric of his shirt. The touch sets him on fire and he’s not willing to ask for ice to douse the flames, he just lays back and lets them lick and eat away at him. “Adam…” He shudders, Kris’ tongue is dipping into the curve of his collarbone, and his name is practically all moan, and those combined with the constant brush of his thumbs on his skin is enough to have him panting like he just ran three marathons. He’s painfully hard and clutching onto Kris’ neck a little too tight, and he’s a second away from just rutting against the angel below him when his phone buzzes on the nightstand.

He feels Kris’ smile in his skin when he groans and glares at the device. As he’s reaching he nearly knocks over the lamp because Kris decides it’s a perfect time to start nibbling and suckling his skin and he thumbs the touch screen to see a message from Lane. All the excitement drains from his body when he sees ‘ _Get in here now. Bring Kris with you_ ’. Not that they weren’t already planning on bringing Kris in to discuss where he stands now, but the way she’s saying it is a very big and obvious hint that whatever happens with Kris is going to greatly involve his career, too.

With a sigh he lifts off of Kris’ lap, feeling Kris’ hands melt off of him as he stands. When he moves into the closet he hears Kris huff out a breath and moments later Kris is following him in, reaching for one of the shirts that Adam fixed with a large opening in the back to fit the wings through. Seeing him pull on the red and blue plaid - an almost replica of the shirt that Kris wore practically everyday back on idol and during the tour - is like a smack in the face of familiarity. The way he kinda flails his arms to fit it on right, and pulling on the collar and front constantly until he gets it the way he wants, and fingers brushing over every snap on the way up. The way he wiggles around to fit the wings through is different but Adam loves it more than all the others combined. He lets Kris continue dressing and walks out with his clothes, throwing everything on and moving onto cover-up, foundation and eyeliner.

He’s just finishing up his left eye when his phone buzzes again. He glares at the mirror for a moment, takes a deep breath and then walks out, grabbing the phone, Kris and keys before heading out.

 

 

 

It was like as soon as they’d walked out, a dark cloud had been following them. From their home to the studios and back out. Adam would’ve rolled his eyes if he wasn’t so pissed when the sky seemed to open up and start pouring over them as they walked out.

Kris is leaning forward in the passengers seat, wings dipped down slightly as droplets of rain rolled off, dripping from his hair to his jeans and wingtips to the floor. He's taking this all a lot better than Adam would’ve thought.

They’d pretty much ordered the both of them to have minimal time together in public, and as long as Kris kept the wings hidden whenever he performed or went out it would he’d be fine. Adam had a sense of déjà vu the entire time, remembering how they flipped about him wanting to come out, to keep it a secret. He wanted to punch a wall, or better yet, he wanted to punch one of the assholes who suggested it. Kris was calm - albeit quiet, but still, calmer than he should’ve been. He should’ve gone out fighting, he had a much better reason to throw a fit and start yelling seeing as, you know, it’s a bit difficult to hide something like that. He understands it, yeah, but still.

“So…” He starts but Kris just shakes his head, a small smile on his lips, wings tilting up slightly.

“It’s fine.” He shrugs. “I kinda figured I’d have to all along, ever since all those stories came out.” With a soft sigh he brushes a hand through dripping wet hair. “It’s the thing with you that I’m pissed about.”

Adam swears he can hear his own teeth grinding; he exhales through his them and shakes his head. “Yeah, that’s bullshit, too.” He huffs, forcing himself to loosen his grip on the steering wheel. “It’s because they don’t want anyone to paint either of us as a home wrecker. You haven’t been seen with Katy for a while and there is no news of the divorce. Not yet anyway.” He glances at Kris then, the only thing he’d heard about Kris’ relationship with Katy was that Kris left after the wings came in, that she wasn’t right. He knows he hasn’t seen the ring since he found Kris here but there was still that bit of a worry he couldn’t shake of.

Kris sighs and nods. “I know, we should probably have a statement for that, shouldn’t we?” Adam just barely holds back a breath of relief. That’s just what he wanted to hear. Not that he wanted their marriage to end or anything but… Kris is here with him now and he needs to know that it won’t be ripped away from him at any moment. It’s happened too many times and Kris is all too important to him; he’s positive if he lost Kris like that it’d be devastating. That thought alone is a little worrying seeing as they’ve only been together like this for a month - maybe, he hasn’t been keeping all that good of track - and he’s already so dependent on Kris. Not just his happiness, either, it feels like every part of his being needs Kris to survive.

He stops in the driveway, staring at their shared home, Kris, who feels like the other part of his soul that he never knew was missing, beside him. He unbuckles and steps out, rushing over to the other side where Kris is and grinning when he steps out and holds one of his wings over Adam, keeping most of the rain off of him. When they’re inside Kris’ wings shake, sending droplets of rain everywhere, and Adam has to bite - hard - on the inside of his cheek to stop from smiling. Kris just grins up at him dopily afterward and trots inside after heeling off his sneakers.

Adam rolls his eyes and follows after and just like that it’s like the clouds forgotten. Even with the memory of the meeting still fresh in their minds and the pounding of rain all around it’s gone. Adam is just this side of sappy to believe that it’s their love that makes everything so amazing all the time, no matter what lies outside. As long as they’re together in this little bubble of shared personal space, everything’s perfect.

Kris’ laughter erupting through the room as Adam’s hands search over skin, light enough to tickle, banishes the last of Adam’s sulking, and he goes about to worship Kris in every way possible as a thank you.

He thinks making it impossible for the both of them to move for the next hour is a good way to start.

 

 

 

Kris was lost; lost in the flames of agony licking his body, burning him alive, in the darkness without light. _Lost without Adam_. With a moan of pain from the sharp flash across his shoulders he reached for the phone, his hand batting against everything on the nightstand before falling on the cool technology. He managed to move it over onto the bed without much difficultly, but getting his fingers to work on the keys and being able to see the screen was a completely different beast.

Kris hears ringing, and he realizes that he’s dialed someone. He prays it’s the right number, that it’ll be Adam on the other end, and places it up against his ear. It’s a few more rings before a familiar voice comes through. Sweet, melodic; _his light._

“Hey, this is Adam.” It’s recorded; actually he remembers this. Adam recorded it way back on the tour, he can hear himself laughing and Adam shushing him in the background. He smiles lightly. “I’m busy, ya’ll know what to do.” Kris opens his mouth to speak, to say the words he needs to, but then a flash of fire shoots up his arm and makes him drop the phone and it’s twisting, burning, mind-numbing pain and several cracks snapping in the air. The last thing he hears is the flutter of wings and he sees a single, black feather twirling down from above him to land on his clenched fist, then everything goes dark.

 

 

 

 

 


	5. Broken Wings (And A Thousand Broken Hearts)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV Kris of Fallen Angels Sing (And Sometimes Snuggle).

 

 

 

 

 

When Kris woke up, it was to Katy. She wasn’t necessarily doing anything, just staring at him lying face down on their bed; his back was probably a mess, he could feel the stickiness of sweat and blood binding feathers to his skin, and well… the obvious.

“Kris… you’re…” He sighed and lifted up, his arms were wobbly and the motion made his entire body hurt, but there’s not much he could do. He did credit her some explanation before he gave into that constant itch at the back of his mind telling him to get to Adam. Much to his dismay, Katy was stepping back from him as he’s standing up. “What happened…”

Her voice was watery and he felt his stomach clench. How he wished it was her. “Kate…” He went to step towards her, but stopped when she shook her head violently, holding her hands up at him. He rocked back on his heels, feeling the weight of the wings almost tearing at his back. They felt heavier than they should, like they’re tugging at every inch of his skin, too. He knew exactly why, too. “I’m still me… just…” He tried to move one of the wings and it burned his entire right side. He decided to give that up for now. “A little different…”

She was nodding, still gaping at him. He figured that’s good enough to continue for. “I… don’t really know why… it’s a bit hard to explain.” How could he explain a dream he had when he was a kid that he still remembered so well, of someone telling him everything he’d go through and how he’d be the first and all that.

Katy was quiet for a few moments, and he watched as she worked through all of it, then her jaw slackened, a few tears escaping - it’s everything in him to stop from crossing the room to wipe them away - and she stared up at him in disbelief mixed with fear and… his stomach twisted uncomfortably as he registered the last expression.

“I-I can’t…” She backed away a bit more as her face finally gives way to that third emotion completely; the hatred and disgust there almost felt like a punch to the stomach. He stood stock-still in the room, feeling his legs like jelly beneath him, and finally knocking out from under him with the slam of the front door.

The carpet was like fire under his cheek, a burning rasp with every inhale. He didn’t know how long he’d been laying there when his phone started buzzing, the sound making him jump and reminding him of the pain outside of his chest. He got up slowly, careful due to the uneven and unsteady feeling he had, then reached for the device. It’d stopped buzzing, but seeing the picture in the missed calls - blue eyes shining goofily back at him with an extraordinarily dorky smile accompanying them - it still held an impact strong enough to knock the air out of him. For a split second everything - all the pain and the lost, uneasy feeling - disappeared. He felt the wings twitch behind him before unfurling as much as they could in the room. Before everything had felt numb but now he… he felt everything.

He knew that Adam was in some hotel room pacing, phone in hand, deciding whether to call again or not. He was still half-dressed since he’d checked the messages as he was getting ready and now he was running late since he got the call from Kris and there was no message except for the phone dropping and cutting off. “Kris, come on. Call, something. Please.” He could practically hear Adam‘s voice saying that, running his hand through his black hair repeatedly before Lane texts him with a final warning and he’s rushing out with a groan.

Kris heard the phone drop to the floor and stared. It was… weird. Like he was completely attuned to Adam now. But as quickly as it appeared it was fading and the pain was curling back in, slowly and surely. It was a sign, he knew it. Something he should’ve done weeks ago, or maybe he should’ve never left Adam in the first place, but he was going to make it right.

It was a few minutes later he’s setting out the note to Katy and the divorce papers. Explaining everything and giving the number she could call since he was probably going to be missing for the next few days - and it’s not like his management would be able to see him like this anyway - and his heart ached as he did, but he still had to do it. He felt horrible for doing it this way but he’d already made enough mistakes he had to make right. It’s one last look to all of his memories here, everything he’s leaving behind, then he followed the itching instinct between his shoulder blades and flying off to Adam’s with only the wings, a heavy heart and everything to explain.

 

 

 

A few days later, he was standing at Adam's door, feeling around at the ledge entirely too tall for him to reach without balancing on the frame for the spare key. He felt wind whipped and tired and dirty and all he really wanted to do was clean up. As soon as the door was open, though, he was hit with a wall that made him stagger back for a moment. Adam was all around him here; not _actually_ , unfortunately, but the sense of him. Kris took a deep breath, feeling the wings sag a little and the pain slowly seep away until it was just a slight buzz under his skin. He felt himself start to smile, and took a moment to glance around the room before moving to the shower.

With a towel low around his hips, he moved out in search of something to wear; he’s certain there’s a pair of his sweats somewhere around there. He was in the living room, looking through the modern cabinet when he heard the car door slam. He felt the wings behind him lift up, tense with the rest of him. There’s an itch between his shoulder blades again but it’s different; instead of saying ‘ _go to him_ ’, it’s screaming ‘ _he’s here_ ’ and making Kris want to rush to the door and tackle Adam in a hug and just breathe him in until his arms are sore and beyond.

He glanced down over himself, and decided retreating would be a better decision. He heard the key scratching against the lock and, with one hand gripping the towel around his waist, dashed down the hall. He heard the door open behind him and took a second to look back and ended up running into the dresser in the bedroom. The drawers knocked out of place, and the mirror on top wobbled for a moment before falling to the floor and shattering.

“Fuck.” He could hear Adam coming down the hall, and the towel was trapped under the dresser after it fell out of his hand when he hit it. Kris glanced around the room and grabbed onto the sheets of the bed to pull around himself just as the door pushed open.

Seeing the familiar, ruffled black hair and careful, blue eyes, freckled lips turned down slightly; it felt like coming home. “Kris?” That flame that had been slow burning in his chest, waiting for this moment, seemed to erupt to every inch of his skin. It knocked the breath out of him, and when Adam’s eyes met his, it’s everything he has in him to stop from dropping the sheets and running over, face planting in Adam’s chest.

But then he remembered his… situation, and gripped the sheets a bit tighter, feeling himself twitch under Adam’s gaze. It seemed to click for Adam, because he saw Adam’s cheeks tint a bit and his hand slackened a bit around the umbrella he’s holding. “Why are you naked?”

 _Oh_ , right, _that_. Kris looked up and… really what’s he supposed to say to that? He gathers the sheets a bit closer. “I-I can explain.” He’s opening his mouth to do just that, but then he stopped, words freezing on his tongue. The wings were twitching behind him, almost like a reaction to his nervousness, and Adam, of course, noticed.

The umbrella dropped to the floor, and Adam was scrambling back, and it felt just like with Katy only… only _worse_. He looked away, fisting his hands in the sheets to try and keep the burning feeling behind his eyes from turning into tears, and he felt the wings stretch out for a moment before they curled around him protectively. There’s a heavy feeling in his stomach that’s only growing worse as the silence in the room stretched on.

He heard Adam take a deep breath, and he squeezed his eyes shut ready for the rejection. He _couldn’t_ see Adam give him that same look Katy did. He wouldn’t be able to take it.

A few more seconds passed before Adam spoke up; it’s small, confused, but it didn’t sound like there was anything akin to hatred or disgust. “What happened?” Of course, it was a loaded question with an even more loaded answer. Kris sighed.

He pulled the sheets up a bit more when he saw Adam staring at him - it’s curious, still a little shaken but it’s miles better than what he expected. He straightened up a little, barely noticeable but it still felt like the world lifted off his shoulders. “It’s a long story.” He’s about to pull the sheets off and bring Adam down to the bed to tell him everything, but feeling the smooth material over part of his body that really shouldn’t have been bare at the moment reminded him of why that would be such a bad idea. “Um… Do you think I could…” He trailed off when he saw Adam smile and felt himself blush. Adam, though, ignored his embarrassment and nodded, and Kris thought then that their friendship was really, pretty amazing if they could still communicate with such ease like that, despite the… _unusual_ … situation. He almost wanted to roll his eyes when he saw Adam pull out a pair of sweats - _his_ sweats, the ones he was looking for, _dammit_ \- and a t-shirt. The t-shirt was a problem, he hadn’t tried it but he’s sure it wouldn’t work well with the wings. Adam seemed to process this as well while Kris stared down at it, because he grabbed it with a grimace and pulled out a too-big tank top instead.

He watched as Adam turned away from him, and he couldn’t help but smile while he dropped the sheets and pulled on the sweat pants. In a way, he was glad that it was Adam who he felt like this for. Adam _would_ be quick to accept him like this; sure he was surprised - okay, maybe a little _more_ than surprised - when he first saw Kris, but to adjust that quickly…

Kris winced, feeling the tank top pulling at the feathers and his wings which refused to tuck in so he could pull the tank over them. With a sigh, he gave up and looked up to Adam’s back. “Adam, I… I need some help.”

He watched Adam turn around, and he saw blue eyes check to the sweats first before settling on the tank top. Adam clucked his tongue slightly, half pouting as he moved across the room. He involuntarily flinched when Adam walked behind him. He still felt a little sticky so he’s sure there were still traces of blood along his back. There were a few seconds of nothing, then he felt Adam’s hand on the tank top and-

Kris felt like he bucked clear out of his skin. Adam’s hand on the wing was like an electric shock rocketing through him, lighting every inch of his body with live-wire energy. He had to clamp down on his lip and squeeze his eyes shut to stop from making any embarrassing noises.

As soon as his eyes slipped shut, though, he regretted it. All he could see was Katy’s face, the woman he’d loved ever since… well, practically since he was born. Someone who should have been there for him, instead of…

He opened his eyes, letting out a huff of air as he felt the wings slip over the top of the tank. He could feel the tears burning in his eyes, and the massive lump in his throat that he’s sure going to give him away. “Thank you…” He flinched afterward, but turned toward Adam none-the-less. Adam was safe. Adam was _home_.

 _Katy had been home, too_. His mind wouldn’t stop reminding him of that. He felt Adam’s arms start to coil around him and it’s the biggest relief. He let out a breathy sob, the tears spilling over, and he face planted into Adam. Adam hesitated for a moment, before Kris felt his face burying in Kris’ hair, hands gently falling over Kris’ back where the feathers meet his skin. He drew in a breath, short and sharp and almost making him feel like he was going to choke; that some electric current was there, running from Adam’s hands through his body. He expected it to disappear after a while, but it just felt like it was getting worse, building until Kris felt completely overwhelmed and high strung, but at the same time he just couldn’t bring himself to pull away.

He planned on staying there for the entire day, but then he remembered he had some things to explain. He drew in a deep breath and looked up into deep blue eyes. “Adam?” Adam tensed for a moment before lowering his gaze to Kris; he felt the wings fall a little, the tips just barely brushed his calves. Kris lowered his eyes to the floor again and cleared his throat; it didn’t help. “Can we, um… sit down? I have something to tell you.”

He felt Adam nod, and strong, freckled arms helping him over to the bed. He felt himself start smiling when Adam looked back behind him, fixing the wings every so often for Kris to be comfortable, then blue eyes lifted up to his face. “Okay, what is it?”

The smile disappeared, and he sighed, concentrating on the fabric of the sweatpants over anything - anyone - else in the room. He took a deep breath, then looked up at Adam. “Katy kicked me out.” It wasn’t exactly how it happened, but the feeling in his gut tells him that if he would’ve stayed it would’ve happened anyway. He was about to say something else when Adam reached out, taking Kris’ hand’s in his and squeezing. It felt like Adam was squeezing his heart, in a completely amazing and great way that made him feel… loved. The feeling spread all over, making him feel almost blissfully numb.

It only lasts for a moment, though. “Is it because of…?” He nodded behind Kris, and he watched freckled lips fall when he nods. Adam’s eyes started evaluating him, then, and Kris felt his skin tingle at the same time that the familiar heat from before spread all over. After a few moments Adam cleared his throat, looking away and uncoiling their hands. Kris felt his heart sink a little. “You can stay here as long as you want…”

He felt the wings fall behind him, then stood up. “You don’t have to.” He’s about to take a step to leave, working out where else he could possibly go, when Adam’s hand closed around his shoulder. Kris gasped, biting down, _hard_ , on his bottom lip as his wings twitched up to meet Adam’s skin. “It’s fine.” He heard through the blood pumping wildly in his ears, and when he turned toward Adam he was met with a smile that punched all the air out of his lungs. “Really.”

He stared, looking for any sign that Adam would be lying or have any regrets, and he let out a soft breath when he found nothing. He burrowed himself into Adam’s chest, feeling himself moving through the room until they fell back on the bed. Kris let himself break open then, pouring out everything from the past year into the dry sobs in Adam’s shoulder. It all seemed to melt out, though, when Adam’s hands found the wings, combing through without any kind of hesitation, smoothing down feathers and making Kris gasp and pull himself a bit closer to Adam.

He smiled to himself when Adam didn’t seem notice Kris’ twitching in Adam’s lap and the way he was practically moaning right into his ear. He wondered just what it was going to take for Adam to realize just how dependent and important and… well, _exciting_ Adam was to him.

 

 

Kris’s eyes flutter open and he groans, feeling Adam’s hands moving along his hips and waist, nuzzling into the his stomach and nipping on his hipbone. He feels Adam’s lips curl against his skin. “About time you woke up.” He sort of expects Adam to lift up to cuddle against Kris’ side like usual, but instead Adam trails a few kisses down to Kris’ hardening cock, brushing his lips along the sensitive skin. Kris moans and bucks up, going from half-hard to need-to-come- _now_ just like that.

Adam, though, seems to have other plans. “What.” A kiss to the tip that makes Kris babble. “Were you.” Another. “Dreaming.” Two more, he stops when Kris tries to coil his fingers into Adam’s sleep-mussed hair, he moans needily instead to show just how much he needs Adam _right the fuck_ now. “About, _Kristopher_.” Adam looks up at him with a smile at that, and Kris never really thought his name could sound so sexual, Adam just proved him wrong and more. He writhes and whines, needing Adam to do _something_.

Adam decides teasing him half-to-death with little, tickling brushes over his fingers along his cock is enough. Kris shudders. “Oh _god_.” Adam chuckles and trails a finger of the other hand along his hip, following the subtle curve of his stomach down.

“Come on, Kris. Tell me.” It has a bit of an or-else vibe to it, and Kris has a feeling that if he doesn’t say anything now he’s going to have a horrid case of blue balls in his future.

“A-A _dam_.” Because he really can’t talk while Adam is still doing that with his dick, but Adam just smiles and presses a barely-there kiss to the tip, his tongue poking out to dip into the slit and making Kris cry out and shudder something horrible. He takes a deep breath and sits up just enough to see Adam. It doesn’t exactly help. “I-” He cuts off to gasp, Adam is now suckling lightly, his lips wrapped around the crown of Kris’ cock. He takes a moment to think how evil Adam is and makes a mental note to come up with a way to get back at him later. “When… when I - _nngh, fuck_ \- I-I came here… a _mmm_ -month ago. Just how… how accepting and g _rea_ t you were to me.” He pauses a moment then does his best to glare down at Adam. “Unlike now.”

Adam just snorts, then drops his hand to wrap around the base and sucks all of Kris into his mouth. It’s about two seconds before Kris is practically screaming, Adam’s hands on his hips the only things holding him back from arching up into the air wildly. A few moments later Adam pulls off, licking his lips - Kris knows what’s going to be the star of his dreams for the next week, _now_ \- and moving up beside him to nuzzle into Kris’ body. Adam growls in a way that’s just completely cute and makes Kris want to cling and hug him forever, then nips at Kris’ slack lips. “That’s rather interesting.” Adam purrs, hands brushing over Kris’ wings and making a certain part of his anatomy start arguing about round two. “I had a dream kind of like that, too.” Adam presses a kiss to Kris’ forehead, and he’s about to ask Adam what he means, but he’s gets distracted by the column of heat Adam pushes into his thigh.

They’re both _very, thoroughly_ _distracted_ for the next hour… maybe two.

 

 

 

 

 


	6. Here To Make A Change (Always Been Fated)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys relationship now deepens even further in a mysterious way, followed by a trip back to a night during the Idol Tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 _"Before, I never believed in angels  
The warmth inside you  
Making me find a purpose…_"

  
Adam peers in through the doorway, seeing Kris with guitar in hand, gnawing on the end of his pencil, half-glaring down at the lyrics in his notebook. He looks beautiful, wings curling in around him and just barely touching his cotton-clad calves, pillow creases still on his cheek and arm.

He moves in a little further, leaning against the doorframe as Kris grumbles and scratches out some of the lyrics. Adam smiles, watching Kris run his hand through his hair several times before looking up at Adam and slapping his hands over the notebook. “Adam…” He breathes, and Adam just smiles more. “I didn’t think you’d be up.”

Adam chuckles and walks in a little further, kneeling behind Kris to wrap his arms around feathers and warm skin. “It’s always a bit colder when your not there. I can’t sleep that long after you leave.” Adam grins as he feels the wings shiver and fall a little against his own skin, settling in his arms.

After a few moments pass, Kris shifts, the wings uncurling around them and settling against his back, brown eyes staring up at Adam with a warmth that makes his heart prance around in his chest. The crooked lips tilt slightly before Kris surges up to press their mouths together in a sweet, unhurried kiss. Adam melts just a little and shudders so hard he’s surprised he’s still in one piece when Kris pulls back a tiny bit and licks his lips, catching Adam’s in the process. “Hi.” It’s whispered, small, not awkward or funny like it would be in any other situation. Adam notices how Kris’ voice catches slightly when he says it and how the wings twitch a fraction.

“What is it?” He watches as Kris blushes, looking away, suddenly very interesting with the guitar in his lap. Adam’s frown deepens; he cups Kris’ face in his hands, tilting just enough to get those brown eyes to look into his again. “Come on, babe. What?” He smiles, stroking a finger along Kris’ cheek and watching Kris draw in a sharp breath and shudder. “You know you can tell me anything.”

He feels Kris swallow, then the wings are wrapping around him, pulling him into Kris until the smaller man’s face is fitted into his throat. There’s three beats of silence, of just Kris’ steady breaths on his skin. “I’m scared…” The wings and a pair of arms join in to curl a little tighter around him. “There’s so many things that need to happen and that I need to say and…” A break; Adam brings one of his hands up to Kris’ scalp, massaging comfort and support through his touch. “Adam…”

He presses a kiss to Kris’ head, keeping his lips there for a minute, then settling his chin there instead, Kris immediately tucking back into his place. “Hmm?”

There are three cool breaths, snaking over the skin of his shoulder and neck and leaving a trail of goose bumps in it’s wake, then Kris tucks in closer so nearly every inch of his skin is in contact with Adam’s. “Thank you…” Adam shudders, feeling Kris’ lips against his skin is almost enough to distract him. _Almost._

“Thank me?” With Kris nodding against him he smiles, coiling his fingers through Kris’ hair and pressing a soft kiss to his head again. “What for?”

When Kris looks up again, he understands. It’s almost like… like he jumps into Kris’ thoughts - memories, ideas, everything - as soon as their eyes lock. Adam feels the breath knock out of him, his eyes burning and tears rolling over his cheeks, but it’s nothing when he can practically see… _everything_ Kris is hurting about. All those narrowed eyes and snarled lips, words like venom from malicious mouths, hands greedy to steal away something Adam thought was - _is_ special. Just like that, it all seeps away. It feels almost like whiplash, but despite the confusion from the loss of connection - feeling almost like a phantom limb now, actually - he pulls Kris close. Gentle brushes of lips and hands stroking silky feathers, Kris inhaling sharply and curling a hand around Adam’s neck before lifting his head to press their lips together in a sugar-sweet kiss. It’s all the thanks Adam will ever need. It’s easy, anyway. To still love Kris and see nothing… well, whatever all these other people see; it’s beautiful to him. It’s what makes Adam feel lucky to have Kris.

Against his skin he feels Kris’ lips curl and mouth ‘ _I’m the lucky one_ ’ before pressing for a more passionate kiss. This one brings them both down to the floor, Kris’ foot bumping the guitar and sending out a discordant melody that their lips dance to.

Not for the first time, Adam’s breath is punched out of his lungs by the absolute magnificence of his angel when Kris is seated on his hips, spine curved in an elegant ‘S’ and wings stretched out, nearly touching opposite ends of the room, rocking to a rhythm only they know. The beads of sweat are like diamonds, glistening on honey-sweet skin, black feathers soft silk coming down to caress his skin as sweet pleasure ripples up his spine.

Crooked lips tilt into a soft smirk before lust-hazed eyes open to meet his. The words “I’m not the angel here.” weave into the love-thick air before the lips Adam craves meet his and he’s ripped apart lovingly and lustfully by his hearts other half.

Adam drifts away with a smile on his lips, Kris’ hands and wings swirling patterns into his skin that feel both like fire and ice and would’ve made his toes curl, if he had the energy.

 

 

 

“Adam?”

Adam startled awake, inhaling sharply for a few moments before a hand clamped over his mouth. He panicked for a moment, before relaxing when he saw brown eyes and bed-mussed brown hair, tempting lips pulled into a pout. Kris pulled his hand away only to start wringing his sleep shirt. He looked nervous.

Adam shook off the tiredness, rubbing his eyes as he sat up as well as the bunk would let him. “Hey.” He looked back at Kris; he already seemed a little more relaxed. “What’s up?”

Kris goes from relaxed to embarrassed immediately. “Um…” He huffed, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck. The bus jerked, making Kris sway on his feet and grab at Adam’s bunk. Adam reached out a hand to grab him and as soon as his hand touched Kris, he seemed to melt, the tension seeping out just like that. Kris took a breath as soon as he was steadied, then looked up at Adam. “I had a bit of a nightmare and…” He trailed off. Adam smiled.

“It’s fine.” Kris looked up and Adam just laughed lightly, pulling off the blankets and toeing out of the bunk as quietly as he could. “I understand, here.” Adam looped an arm around Kris’ shoulders and pulled him into the back of the bus, where there are a few couches for them to sit at, a curtain blocking any of the light from either side. Adam flicked on the small, soft light that barely illuminated a seat of the couch it’s by and pulled Kris down with him.

The smaller man immediately plastered himself into Adam, and he could feel how cool Kris’ skin was, cold sweat beaded along his neck and shoulders under the tank top. Adam frowned, coiling his arm a little tighter around him despite how much it hurt his heart to keep in contact with him. Kris was his friend, his _best friend_ … Adam was not going to mess up their relationship by trying to start anything with him.

After a few moments Kris started to relax, and he sighed, melting into Adam’s side. “Better?” Kris nodded, then smiled up at him. _Don’t kiss him, don’t do it._

He resisted, barely. Instead nuzzling his face into Kris’ temple. It wasn’t that much better but it wasn’t kissing. “What was the nightmare about?”

He felt Kris tense for a moment before he relaxed again, huffing out a soft breath. “It’s… not exactly a nightmare.” Kris shifted, his lips just brushing Adam’s pulse line. Adam swallowed, squeezing his eyes shut and willing his rapidly beating heart to calm down. “Just… this dream I keep having that’s…” There’s a hitch in his breath, and then he turned his head away. “It’s just bothering me. The implications, of it.”

Adam nodded slowly, swallowing down the lump in his throat. _He doesn’t mean anything by that, it’s just a dream, anyway._ After a few moments pass Adam peeled Kris off of him, shifting a little and faking a yawn. “If you're feeling better I’m going to go back to sleep.” He smiled tiredly, despite feeling absolutely electric under his skin.

He watched as Kris’ face fell slightly. “O-oh.” He straightened up a bit on the couch and nodded. “Yeah. Get some sleep. Sorry for waking you.”

“Yeah.” He took a step back, then turned. “Night.” Then he left, taking a deep breath as soon as he was out of the awkward air suffocating the back part of the bus. He held onto his bunk like a lifeline, staring blindly at the ruffled sheets as his mind worked through the last half hour.

Adam had a peculiar feeling in his gut, along the same lines of the feeling he had before he auditioned for Idol but… better. _Bigger_ , maybe. And Kris seemed even more disappointed than usual when Adam left, like he just told Adam something huge and Adam'd just swept it away like it was nothing. _But nothing _did_ happen, he didn’t tell me anything and…_

He swallowed; the air was suddenly dry and hot despite the almost arctic conditions of the bus. All he could gather was that… whatever Kris was dreaming of was something he was ashamed of; maybe romantic and missing a certain tiny blond wife. He would not accept the Kris was possibly dreaming of him, that was entirely too much to process this late at night. With a final breath he pulled himself up into the bunk, tugging the sheets over his body and squeezing his eyes shut for sleep that never came.

 

 

 

 _My hips all tickly…_ Adam giggles slightly before cracking his eyes open enough to see Kris above him, wings stretched out, a feather tracing his hipbone. “Stop it.” He laughs again, smacking at Kris’ hand, then pulling him down for a kiss when that luscious lip pouts out.

“Mmm…” Kris pulls away, smiling lazily with half-lidded eyes. “About time you woke up.” He leans down to trace his lips along Adam’s collar bone, making the older man half-giggle, half-moan underneath him. “You looked like you were having a pretty intense dream.” Kris pulls back after flicking his tongue over the rise-and-dip at the base of his throat, curious brown eyes locking him in. “What about?”

Adam stares for a moment, lost for the nth time in everything _Kris_ , then smiles, tracing his fingers along sensitive hips. “Just a night back on tour, nothing big.” He trails a hand back up Kris’ spine to move his angel back toward him. “Nothing that matters anymore, seeing as I’ve got everything I could ever dream of right here.”

He feels Kris grin against his skin, and calloused fingers come down to press deliciously into his shoulders, pushing him into the bed. Adam takes a moment to wonder when they actually ended up here, then Kris is kissing everything away with perfect lips.

 

 

 

 

 


	7. Angels Without Their Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kris has a dream leaving him a message; boy's discover something new about the wings; and more people know about Kris' "secret".

 

 

 

 

 

The sky is creamy white, splattered with cinnamon colored stars. He’s in a field of black, the roots just barely showing a light red. The ocean is a brighter blue than usual; sharp and sweet on his tongue. He can smell cologne he recognizes but can’t quite place.

His back is sore, but pleasantly so, a small burn starting from his bones and expanding out to make his skin buzz. He can just hear comforting words in a sweet, melodic voice that - again - he knows but it’s escaping him at the moment.

“Everything will be fine. Stay together, be brave; everything will work out.” The voice fades out after that. Brown eyes slowly open to the vanilla and nutmeg skies above. He wonders if the stars taste different, if they raise up at all; and when he sits up to see the ocean in the distance, he finds himself lost in the depths of color and music that swirls through his head.

 

 

 

“Kris?”

“Mmnh.” The sky colored hand - _no… **freckles** , not stars_ \- shakes him more before Kris is sitting up, rubbing his eyes roughly and then staring up at the person waking him.

 ** _Hmm_** _, Adam._ His lips curl into a smile almost involuntarily, and he lunges forward as best he can to coil his arms around the warm, firm waist. His lips are right next to Adam’s hip, so he steals a taste of the stars; they taste sweeter to him, sugar against the salt of sweat. “Mmm, yummy.”

Adam chuckles and pushes Kris’ head off. “Okay, okay. We have to get going already.”

 _Oh, right._ Kris melts off and pouts. He has to go into the recording studio today. He glances over his shoulder to his wings and frowns; today… he actually doesn’t want to hide them. After the worship Adam showed them the other night he’s rather proud of them. When he looks back Adam’s staring at them as well, then he sighs and pulls Kris off the bed. “I’ll help you.”

After a few false starts they finally both manage to get the wings under his shirt and hidden. Adam sighs, smoothing a gentle hand over them through the flannel. “I wish you didn’t have to do this.”

Kris barely nods, leaning back into Adam’s touch with fluttering eyelids. He hears Adam chuckle and he glares back at him. “It’s not my fault your touch is amazing.”

Adam just smirks at him, pressing a crooked kiss to Kris’ neck, then rushing off after caressing down his back again and making Kris’ knees nearly buckle, the bathroom door slamming after him. Kris rolls his eyes, grabbing his phone and notebook with a few finished - and several unfinished - songs in it.

He figures Adam’s going to be taking a while, considering his make-up was still undone, so Kris settles into the couch, rotating his shoulders and wincing as the wings writhe against the gauze trapping them. “It’s going to be a long day…”

  
Kris barely makes it through one song before he’s out of breath, wings trembling horribly under the shirt and dressings and feeling sick. “You okay?” The producer touches his shoulder and it _hurts_ , sharp pain spiking through the wings and everything attached. He winces away and the man pauses for a moment before nodding toward the door. “You should take a breather.” He smiles; it’s forced and even against the gauze Kris can feel the wings falling. “Some fresh air will help.”

He nods and steps out of the studio, wincing with almost each step. If he reacts like this all the time with them hidden then their plan of keeping everything under wraps isn’t going to work too well.

“Kris?” _Ah…_ Kris relaxes a bit, turning to see Adam and melting into him as soon as he’s there. He still feels uncomfortable and trapped, though; suffocated. “Are you alright?” Adam frowns, brushing a hand over the wings. “What’s wrong?”

His throat feels too dry to talk, so he lifts his eyes to Adam’s and hopes that Adam gets the message. Apparently he does; almost like before, it’s almost like Adam’s seeing into his mind. He doesn’t have the chance to feel weird about it because Adam narrows his eyes and clamps his hand around Kris’ wrist and is marching off to the alley behind the studio.

Kris flinches, the shirt brushing against the skin that feels burnt on his back as it falls off his shoulders to the ground. “Oh my god, _Kris_ …” Adam hesitates for a moment, then touches a hand to Kris’ back; it hurts, like a sunburn being slapped. He hears Adam growl and the bandages are ripped off. “They can’t make you do this. It’s hurting you. _Fuck_ , Kris, they need to see this.”

He would try to have some input, but the last few strips of gauze are gone and Kris can finally stretch out the wings and breath. It feels like his entire body’s being cleansed of… something. Apparently his skin is still ‘sunburned’ since Adam’s arm coiling around his waist in the back smarts, but even that’s considerably better.

They spend a few moments outside, Adam stroking his wings gently, pressing soft kisses to Kris’ neck, face and lips. When Adam pulls away he’s looking over Kris carefully, chewing on his lip a little. “Better?”

Kris nods, smiling. Adam reflects the expression, then gently takes Kris’ hands and pulls him back into the building. He already has his phone out, more than likely texting Lane about something - more than likely the situation with Kris’ wings - then starts pulling Kris back down the hall toward his recording room.

Amazingly, Lane is already there waiting for them. She glances behind Kris for a moment, mouth hanging open for a second before she snaps herself out of staring and smiles - genuinely he notices. “I take it you’re feeling better?”

Kris just smiles and sits back onto his stool, picking up a bottle and untwisting the cap. “Yeah, much.” He pauses for a moment, the wings twitching in his moment of self-consciousness. “Are they bothering you?”

She hesitates for a moment then shakes her head. “No. Just… going to take some getting used to.” He feels them slump in relief and catches Adam letting out a breath, too, before he’s moving across the room behind Kris.

“We can’t hide them.” He grimaces as he ghosts a hand over Kris’ back. “I’m not going to let Kris risk his health like that…”

Lane nods. “No, I get it.” She takes out her phone and starts dialing. “I’ll set up a meeting as soon as I can. Until then I’d say you have free reign to do what you wish with them.” She flashes them a smile - it’s a warning to not be overtly public and keep any stories from the press, but there’s that friendly tone to it, too - before leaving the room and leaving them alone for the moment.

Kris sighs, leaning back against Adam, shuddering as the taller man strokes his palm over the feathers, brushing the marks left by the gauze away. He looks up, smiling into blazing blue eyes. “Thank you.” Adam looks down, smiling lightly, eyes softening.

Adam shrugs, placing a kiss against Kris forehead, lips curling against his skin. “I had a feeling you needed me.” A freckled hand moves down over his chest, fingers dancing playfully. “Just this aching feeling that told me I needed to be with you.” He chuckled lightly. “Well, more than I already need to.”

Kris brings his hand up, lacing his fingers with Adam’s. “I get it.” Adam grins at him and they press their smiles together for a moment before breaking apart when the door reopens.

Lane comes back, wiggling the phone back and forth in her hand with a grin. “I set up a meeting for tonight and I told Kris’ producer about the situation so when he comes in you shouldn’t have to explain too much.”

She then looks up to Adam. Kris feels him pout and has to bite into his cheek to stop from giggling when he starts whining. Lane doesn’t look like she’s doing much better. “I know you want to stay with him but Kris has an album to record.” She thrusts a thumb back toward the door, letting a bit of a smile show. “You do, too, so get your whiny butt over here.”

Adam sighs. “Fine, fine.” He gives Kris’ wing one last brush then turns around in a sweet, fluid movement - that makes Kris’ fingers itch to just grab those wonderful hips and hold them forever - to smash their mouths together. Adam holds them together long enough to make Kris’ mind go blank and his head to spin and every other wonderful thing that happens when his lips are on Adam’s. They separate with a smack and Adam grins at him. “I’ll be back to check on you in an hour, baby.” He slowly lets go, letting out a huff as his hand slips out of Kris’ and wanders to the door.

When they leave, the producer from earlier moving in after, Kris sighs into the microphone and looks up to see the producer staring at the wings. He fidgets a little and the man’s eyes flicker to Kris’ face. He shakes his head and starts messing with the control panel a bit. “Sorry.” He clicks a few more switches then looked up at Kris, avoiding look at the wings behind him. Kris’ wings fall slightly and he straightens up as well he can next to the mic. “’Kay, ready. You can start any time.”

Kris nods, letting out a breath then thinking to the lyrics swirling around in his head before pulling the headphones onto his ears and listening to the track he’d recorded a little over a month ago. Despite the itch of his skin from the eyes of the producer on him he starts smiling, thinking of Adam. How quickly they fell back into their old habits, practically fused at the hip. At least until that first kiss. Kris smirked, feeling a familiar burn to his cheeks remembering the entire night that followed that first time their lips met.

 _  
Oh my god… I could never get tired of this_. Kris gasped as Adam pulled away, the older man panting just as much as he was. Adam stared down at him, freckled hands framing Kris’ face before a huge, dopy smile spread across his own. It’d been hours since they first fell into the bed, only taking a break to sleep, eat and other necessities. Adam’s looking at him almost like he couldn’t quite believe this was happening still, and it made his face break into a grin before he leaned forward to melded their mouths together again.

Adam groaned, melting just a little bit and moving his hands down to the bed, his thumbs brushing against the top arch of the wings. Kris shuddered, arching up into Adam, reaching up to grab hold of him to stop from flying away with the light, happy feeling he had every time Adam touched him.

Of course, Adam’s seemed to catch on to his reaction by now. With a soft smile he moved one hand down over the wing, making Kris twist up into him again. The other hand moved down Kris chest and stomach, Adam holding himself up only with those amazing hips of his. Gently, he pressed his fingers against Kris’ entrance, actually giggling when Kris groaned and started grinding down onto them.

“Hang on, baby.” Adam sneaked a quick kiss in while he leaned forward to snatch the lube off the nightstand. Kris was pretty sure Adam could just slip right in by now, but Adam seemed insistent on it, not wanting to risk hurting him at all. Besides, it meant more time with Adam’s amazing fingers.

“ _Nnn_!” Kris arched up, biting onto his lip as his hips rolled against Adam’s, sparks of pleasure dancing all along his body, licking deliciously across every inch of his skin. Adam chuckled, twisting his wrist and pulsing his fingers against that spot inside him that had him writhing in Adam’s hands. After another few moments, Adam pulled out, and Kris slumped back with a sigh, smiling as he heard the _snick_ of a condom.

His hips twitched despite how much he tried not to move as Adam lined up. He chuckled, stroking Kris’ wing soothingly - though, it did anything but soothe him, just made him want to pull in Adam even more. “Just relax, deep breath for me.” Kris obeyed, then gasped as Adam thrust inside, sinking in until their hips were smashed together and Adam fell forward, his lips right beside Kris’ ear, the pants and moans fall from his lips making Kris twist and buck to tell him to get on with it.

Adam just chuckled and moved back up, holding his hips with both hands in a bruising grip, and pulled out, thrusting back in right after. Kris rocked with each pump of Adam’s hips, having to cling on tighter and tighter, his own legs lifting up to pull Adam in closer. The wings lifted up from the bed, wrapping around Adam’s shoulders over his hands just as Adam’s thrusts started getting more erratic.

With a grin, Adam wrapped his fingers around Kris’ cock and started tugging in time with his thrusts, and just like that Kris flies over the edge, crying out Adam’s name and spilling heat between the both of them. Adam laughs, loud and free and happy, then thrusts in one more time before pressing their mouths together, sharing his moans with Kris.

 

 

 

“Kris?”

He looks up, coming back to the studio and blushing horribly when he sees the producer staring at him.

He clears his throat and gestures toward the door. “Adam’s outside waiting for you.” A glance down to the control panel then he looks back up. “We’ve made pretty good progress so you’re good to go.”

They both jump as the door swings open, Adam rushing in with a huge grin looking like he just listening just for those words. He wraps an arm around Kris’ waist as the producer grumbles something about them and waves them off. Kris smiles a little. At least it doesn’t seem like he’s as bothered with the wings anymore.

Adam giggles, pulling him out the door with an odd twisting movement to get both of them and the wings through without releasing his waist. Kris rolls his eyes and settles his head against Adam’s shoulder, turning just enough to press his lips to the soft skin under the plush t-shirt neck tickling his chin. Adam makes a happy, mewling sound that makes Kris laugh and leads the both of them down the hall, his fingers sneaking under Kris’ shirt as they pass through with no one insight.

 

 

 

19 immediately dials back on their urgency in Kris hiding, instead doubling the security for when he walks out of the studio and any future events - on Adam’s request - and setting up interviews for him - again overflowing with security guys - to answer any questions about Kris’ wings. Not that he knows too much about them himself. The most he knows is the connection with Adam and that he can’t put into words exactly.

Just like Adam’s been saying all the time, he’s the same as he’s ever been; maybe a bit more aware of things - especially concerning Adam - but it’s nothing that’s worth noting in an interview. At least, nothing that he wants anyone - except Adam, eventually - to know.

“You okay?” He looks over at Adam and smiles, nodding slightly and leaning into him. It’s a reaction, he can’t help it. That bite of self-consciousness just makes him need Adam and clinging to him is better than making out in front of everyone he works for. Adam just grins and presses a kiss to his temple which causes everyone to agree to end the meeting as they’d covered everything. Adam grins innocently at him and Kris has to bite his cheek to stop from laughing as they stand to leave.

“You are evil.” Adam just shrugs and plants his lips against Kris’ for a second. They have to wait for a moment for the security to escort them out, but as soon as they’re in the car together Adam reaches over, capturing the back of Kris’ neck, pulling him across the console and melding their mouths together.

Kris smiles against his lips, wings waving almost blissfully behind him. Adam separates them after several tiny pecks, pressing their foreheads together. “You looked like you wanted some privacy.” He winks. “I figured I’d help speed things along.”

Kris chuckles before pulling him back in and pressing a kiss on the cinnamon-splattered lips. Adam groans into his mouth, and eventually starts whining until Kris pulls away. When he does Adam squirms a bit while glaring over at him, gripping the wheel tightly. “Evil, evil angel.” Kris smirks and sits back while Adam pulls out, folding his wings so they lap around his shoulders lightly, the belt ruffling a few of the feathers on his right. He closes his eyes, and as soon as they’re shut the memory from before plays over his lids, making him start squirming and adjusting his suddenly-too-tight jeans and praying for Adam to get them home soon.

He’s actually so concentrated on Adam that he doesn’t notice the black car following behind them, parking just across the street from their home as they tumble inside tangled together. He doesn’t pay attention to the sound of the window rolling down and the click of the camera or the itching feeling at the back of his neck. Instead, he focuses on Adam’s hand covering every inch of his skin, coiling around the arch of a wing, lips dancing with his, their hips pinned together all the while. Adam’s mouth moving down from his, over his pulse line, across his shoulder, along the top of his wing, teeth digging lightly into the curve and his clever hips slamming Kris’ back to the wall when he moans and bucks out of his skin at the feeling. All his focus is completely shattered when Adam’s hand curls around his cock after nearly tearing his jeans open, stoking until Kris is writhing and lifting him up against the wall and thrusting up into him.

Whatever the ‘threat’ his mind is saying, any foreboding notion planted in his brain, is shattered along with the rest of him.

 

 

 

 

 


	8. Sew 'em Back Together, Make It All Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Photos get out of Kris and Adam together and the boys attend and interview about them; Kris explains to Adam everything he's been keeping quiet about.

 

 

 

 

 

 _Mmm… tickles…_

Adam rolls over, giggling, untangling his limbs from the sheets to tangle with Kris. He smiles at the goofy grin he’s getting, seeing a wing draw back from his side. _Best way to wake up…_ He leans forward, pressing their mouths together softly; perfect in the early morning air.

They both groan and fall back to the mattress when a rather insistent knocking on the front door interrupts them. Adam sighs, reluctantly crawling out from the sheets. “I’ll go get it.” He walks out of the room with his robe, peering through the peephole to see Lane - a very _nervous_ , _frazzled_ Lane; not a good sign.

“You two need to come with me, now.” Adam watches as she walks in as soon as he opens the door, feeling his face scrunch up in confusion.

“Uh…” They both look up to see Kris peering out of the bedroom, practically swimming in one of Adam’s larger hoodies, wings tucked around himself. “What happened?”

Lane takes a deep breath, dropping her gaze to the floor before looking back at Kris. “Pictures got out.” She looks to Adam. “Of the both of you coming back yesterday.” Back to Kris. “The wings are obvious, and I’m sure you both know how obvious the relationship is considering you’re pasted over every gossip site in the world in a lip lock.”

Adam doesn’t like the look on her face. Apparently Kris doesn’t either. “What… what’s the reaction to it.”

She hesitates, then looks away from both of them. “It’s a bit of a mixed bag…” She pauses again, then sighs and looks up. “There’s a group outside the studio demanding we drop you or…” Adam shudders along with her; he’s pretty sure they all know what the other option is, he’s sure that’s what the freaks from the mall where trying to do when they started tugging at Kris’ wings. He looks up at his boyfriend, rushing over to him and pulling him out into the cooler room, pulling him into his body when he sees how white Kris’ face is. Lane continues. “We’re of course not going to do either, security was taking care of them as I was leaving.”

Adam nods, pressing a kiss to Kris’ temple, stroking a hand over the soft black of the feathers. “What else?”

Lane chuckles slightly this time. “On the way over I’ve seen enough wings to fill a large Halloween shop. I’m pretty sure most of the internet is down with both of your fans 'flailing' about your relationship.” She looks over to Kris. “I’ve only glanced over a few things, but from the looks of it majority of your fan base is supportive of both the wings and…” She pauses to laugh lightly again. “ _Kradam_.”

Adam smiles, then he remembers that she’d wanted them to go earlier. “Oh, right.” He looks over the both of them and smirks. “We’ll go get dressed and then you can take us wherever.”

She nods and waves him off, then whips out her phone - undoubtedly to round up a group of security - as they rush back toward the bedroom. “You okay?” Adam looks back at Kris, feeling his own face scrunch up in confusion as he’s buttoning up his shirt.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you this?”

Kris just smiles a little, pulling his blue/black/white plaid shirt over the wings and closing the snaps up to mid chest before answering. “I’m just glad there’s people who don’t care about it.” He shrugs. “Like you said, anyone who doesn’t like it can suck it.”

Adam watches him for a bit, then smirks as Kris is picking up his belt. He strides across the room, taking the belt and lacing it through the loops of his jeans, making sure to brush his hands against the little stretch of stomach as Kris wriggles and moans underneath him. “I thought I was the only one supposed to be sucking anything of yours.”

Dark brown - almost black - eyes look up at him, a pink tongue swiping out across deliciously pouting lips before turning into a sinful smile. Kris lifts his hand just enough to trace his fingers lightly over the zipper of Adam’s jeans, running back up with nails across the denim. His knees almost buckle out from under him and Kris just giggles and pulls away, buckling his belt and looking oh-so-innocent with his wide eyes and wings hung low. “What?”

“Oh you fucking know what-”

“You both have all the time in the world to screw around later! Hurry it up!”

They both wince, looking at each other as Lane yells up at them, then grin. Kris grabs him around the wrist, picking up Adam’s make-up bag on the way out the door. They follow Lane out to a limo and slip in and Kris just sits mostly in Adam’s lap, takes out his eyeliner and beams. “Lemme do it.”

He’s about to argue, half reaching for the pencil already, but Kris starts pouting. Adam sighs and leans back, shooting a glare before relaxing back into the leather. “Yes!” Kris shimmies in his lap a bit, making Adam bite into his lip to stop from bucking up into him, then wraps his fingers around Adam’s jaw and lightly draws the pencil along his lash line in short, slow, even strokes.

Kris’ fingers slip a little on his jaw as he moves onto the other eye. Adam’s breath catches a bit; Kris’ mint-tinged breath fanning over his skin, calloused pads scratching along his stubble and Kris pressing up against his stomach, just as hard as he is. It was almost enough to completely forget about where they were, what they were about to do until Kris pulled the pencil away, tapping Adam’s jaw and kissing his lips sweetly as soon as he opens his eyes.

Kris smiles at him, lifting a leg up and glancing around the limo as he’s shifting around to fall back into the seat next to Adam, making sure his wings don’t hit anything. Adam shifts in the seat a bit, feeling Kris wrap one of the wings around his shoulders. He catches Lane shooting them a warning look, then they pull in front of a nondescript building. He hears Kris take a deep breath, and then they’re moving out in a group of security.

As soon as they enter there’s a blinding flash of cameras, a cacophony of noise from the mass amount of reporters, and it’s enough to make his head throb. With help from the two front security guys, muscling through the sea of bodies they get to the stage set up for their interview.

When they’re settled in - camera’s still flashing to blind and what seems like millions of reporters calling for them - Adam slips his hand around Kris’ under the table, feeling the younger man grip tightly and shoot him a brief smile before they started.

Lane stands just behind Adam, ready to shoot down any questions or cut them off before things get too bad, as she always does for his interviews. There are a few people from the studio, too, he thinks, but he can’t check before Lane speaks up for the first question and his vision is blinded with the white flashes of cameras.

 

 

 

“When did this first happen?”

The reporter is tall, a little lanky; nearly invisible in the crowd of suits. The sharp eyes, though, are clinging to his wings and he shifts them further behind his back - it starts another blinding burst of camera flashes.

“Um…” He blinks his eyes a few times, thinks back then shrugs. “I kind of knew for a while before, they… um… came in a little over a month ago.” It feels a bit… wrong to talk about this with someone other than Adam. He squirms in his seat a bit, not enough to be noticeable but Adam still grips his hand a little tighter anyway, his thumb now brushing over Kris’ skin soothingly.

“And what about the relationship? What happened to your wife for you to be with Adam now?”

Kris feels the wings twitch and Adam’s hand grips just touch tighter for a second as he moves over just enough for his skin to brush against feathers. “There’s not much to tell.” Adam answers smoothly. “Things just didn’t work out, and when he came to stay at my place we just kind of fell into this.” It works well enough. Kris relaxes into Adam slightly, even managing a tiny bit of a smile when he feels the older man’s thumb tracing patterns into the back of his hand.

He takes a deep breath, bracing himself with the constant support Adam’s given him and the love he can feel radiating through their touch. When the next question is asked - more about the wings slowly relaxing behind him - he breezes through the answer. And again with the question after that and the one after that. Adam just keeps tracing figures into his skin, smiling his celebrity smile, answering anything directed to him with ease and, occasionally, tracing his elbow lightly along the inside of his wing. It’s comforting; it’s what gets him through what could’ve been a disaster.

Before he knows it, Lane is calling for the last question. He squeezes Adam’s hand lightly, then looks up at the reporter. “You said earlier, you had known about the…” She hesitates for a moment, her lips turning into a line for about a second before she continues. “The _wings_ coming in for a while?” She pauses, pen poised. “How?”

 _Crap_. Kris takes a breath, glancing over at Adam then shrugging. “Just… pains and things like that.” He clamps his mouth shut then; he hasn’t told Adam about any of those dreams he’d had before, that tipped him off about what would happen. He hasn’t told Adam anything. He feels a sick twist in his stomach as the reporter smirks at him and Lane brings the interview to an end.

“Are you okay?” Adam immediately leans over; his thumb’s stopped drawing into his skin, and Kris gets to watch Adam’s ‘interview’ face fall away to a furrowed brow and an uneasy set in his lips. He’s tempted to glare at the reporter, but he manages to stop himself and shakes his head.

“Just… tired.” He tilts his head and manages a smile. “Can we go home now?”

Adam stares at him for a while, and it’s obvious now that he can tell something’s up. He looks up at Lane then stands, bringing Kris’ up with him and they follow her and the mob of security out to the waiting car.

Lane’s already busy dialing a number into her phone but as they’re getting in she looks over the both of them carefully. “I’m calling ahead to make sure they check out around your place, make sure it’s all clear for you to go back.” He feels a quick pang of guilt for being this much trouble, but it’s dashed away when he remembers what happened the few weeks back…

He shudders, then feels Adam draw an arm a bit closer around him and nod away to whatever Lane’s saying. Kris takes a breath and settles into Adam as the door closes; he knows he’s going to have to tell Adam everything soon. From how Adam’s holding him he’s sure to have some explaining to do when they get back.

Kris shifts a bit so his face is tucked into Adam’s neck, he can hear Adam’s pulse and breath where his ear is against his collarbone. He smiles slightly pressing a kiss to freckled skin and listening to the pulse jump and breathing quicken for a moment then reaches down to lace their fingers together. Adam laughs lightly, turning his head to press his lips to Kris’ temple then. He breathes Adam in, closing his eyes, and brings to mind everything from the past few years.

 

 

 

The dream starts out the same most of the time. Kris laying in a bizarre field; black grass with red roots, like it was dyed, a creamy white sky with a shower of copper stars, an ocean brighter than anything he’s ever seen rocking in a familiar rhythm he can almost get down by the end of the dream. And cologne. It’s always the same, though he can’t quite recognize it; always somewhere just out of reach.

Then, the most calming, soothing voice he’d ever heard; even better than his mama singing a lullaby or his pop idly strumming away at the guitar at soothing his nerves about everything. The voice, a distinctly male voice, but melodic, and there’s a tone in his voice that make’s Kris’ always think he’s smiling. He would always reassure Kris - after the first dream where he explained pretty much every detail of Kris’ future to him - whatever was going on in his life at the moment, whether it’s good or bad, just give Kris that optimism he’s been carrying with himself ever since that first dream.

Now, sitting across from Adam with his dark brows furrowed, hands clasped loosely with Kris’ over their laps, he knows just who that voice belonged to. And the cologne, and just why that ‘field’ in his dream was that way. “It’s…” He takes a deep breath, and he can’t help but smile when he remembers the last message that the dream gave him. _Be brav_ _e_. The advice he’d gotten so far had worked out pretty well. “I think why everything is like that is because of you.”

Adam looks up at him then, looking even more confused. Kris just grins. “Red roots…” He runs his fingers through Adam’s dark hair; he can just barely see the light reddish-gold color underneath. “The blue ocean that’s more calming than anything else.” He trails his fingers down over Adam’s temple, across the top of his lid as his eyes slip shut and back as they open, catching some of the eyeliner on his fingertips. He grins and flattens his palm against Adam’s cheek. “Freckled sky.”

Adam lets out a sigh now, the confusion gone, leaning completely into Kris’ palm, looking completely relaxed. He lifts his eyes up to Kris. “And why would I, I guess, metaphorically, be appearing in your dreams well before you even knew me?”

Kris feels that familiar throb of _mine, mine, mine, mine_ under his skin when Adam brings a hand up to cup his while it’s cradling his face. His wings flutter for a moment, before curling around and just barely bracing Adam’s shoulders, but the touch is enough to make his pulse pick up. “Well…” He moves forward a bit; he notices Adam shifts toward him at the same time. “I’m pretty sure you’re…” He pauses for a moment to consider exactly how he’s going to put this.

Adam beats him to it. “Like a soul mate?” He hesitates afterward, face scrunching up in confusion again. Blue eyes look up at him. “Do you think any of this has to do with the…” He stops, then dials back, straightening up and rolling his shoulders, knocking Kris’ wings off and letting them slide down to rest at his waist. “There’s these moments and… it’s like I…”

Kris gets this… like a connection between their shared gaze that forces the word into his brain. “Can read my mind?” He grins a little afterward when he remembers all the times from before on Idol, of the both of them finishing each others sentences and other things that were garnering them odd looks _before_ the wings. “Even more than usual?”

The confusion disappears under a huge, ear to ear smile. “Yeah.” He drops his hand from Kris’, tracing his finger tips over the feathers bracketing his thighs. It’s quiet for a few moments; Adam just caressing the wings, occasionally turning his head to kiss Kris’ palm until he moves his hand up into Adam’s hair. Then Adam speaks up again, still eyeing the wing his fingers are dancing across. “So when did you find out?” He pauses then shrugs, looking up at him. “I mean, about the wings not the…” He trails off and just grins, then places a wet kiss to Kris' wrist, smiling more when he feels Kris’ pulse jump.

Kris lets out a breath; he was a little worried that maybe Adam wouldn’t… want to be chained down like that in a relationship. He’d known from countless nights in the mansion, searching for sleep that Adam would go on, wishing he could find someone he could really stay with. When Kris came to stay… Adam seemed, well… not like he enjoyed it but that he was used to jumping from relationship to relationship. To see Adam smiling like that, in that heart-breaking/melting/beat-around-like-mad way that nearly knocks his breath out of his lungs? That makes the little bit of fear that’s been curling in his belly since that revelation disappear.

 

He leans across the way and presses his lips to Adam’s, moving his hand down to the back of his neck. He shudders as he feels Adam’s hand push up his back, over the bare skin showing through his shirt and playing with the ridges where the feathers meet flesh. It makes him gasp and arch into him, and Adam just giggles and presses one last kiss before trailing his hand down to rest on his hip.

 

Kris sighs, nuzzling into Adam to tell him the next. As much as he wants to continue kissing him and other things, he needs to finish this.

 

 

Kris sighed, settling into the bed, eyes closed and arms stretched out to the sides. It felt like centuries until he’d finally been able to settle into his own room without cameras and TV crews following him around everywhere. He’d expected this when he’d gotten onto Idol, but not to this extent.He opened his eyes a little when he heard the door to his room slam shut, and then - _oh yeah_ \- his roommate. Adam.

 

Adam looked over at him and half groaned, half smiled, before heeling off his boots and flopping beside him. Kris noticed the movement was still insanely graceful. “Crazy day, huh?” He tilted his head up and Kris was still a little stunned by how bright and a little unsettling - in a good way - his eyes were. He’d also thought that they were a bit grayer - _maybe greener_ \- earlier, where now they were just bright blue. Kris nodded his head slowly, and Adam chuckled lightly, pulling him into an awkward hug where Kris’ face was above his head and Adam’s was plastered to his chest, black hair ruffling up a little against his shirt. He felt… well, a bit more complete. Like something locking into place in his chest, but maybe a bit deeper than that. He was about to coil his arms around him in return when Adam pulled away with a yawn. “I guess I’ll let you get to sleep then.” And then Adam was gone, padding away to the bathroom and Kris felt a little bit colder, like Adam leaving sucked away the light in the world.

 

He took a deep breath, knocking away the thoughts of that familiar melodic voice that had been invading his dreams for years, and how his body starts to ache a little in Adam’s absence, then crawled under the covers and forced himself to sleep.

 

It’s the last day of the competition, and by that point Kris had more than realized a few things about himself and his roommate. He sighed, packing up the last of his things into a duffel and glancing over to Adam’s bed. It was already made, all his things set on top of it already packed. The sight made his muscles ache in that way he was already familiar with whenever he was away from Adam.

 

Rotating his shoulders, Kris pushed his last shirt into the bag and zipped it up, then went upstairs to see if he could find where Adam was. It was going to be the last time they’d see each other until the tour. Kris wanted to get as much time with Adam as possible before they’d have to leave.

 

He found Adam in the living room, draped over the couch in a position that would’ve looked ridiculous to anyone else. Kris smiled slightly when he saw the black and silver glittered Ipod sitting on Adam’s stomach.

 

“Hey.” Adam smiled and scooted back into the couch, making room for Kris and pulling one of the ear buds out, offering it out to Kris. He grinned, took his place against Adam - the place that he knows was cut specifically for him, just as Kris fit into Adam like Kris was made specially for him. He shook the thoughts out of his head; he knows what they mean and everything like that, doesn’t mean he’s going to act on it.

 

When he’s done fidgeting around Adam brought his arm down from the back of the couch, curling it around his waist as they listened to the slow, steady beats, a voice that Kris doesn’t pay attention to, instead listening as Adam softly sung along into his hair.

 

With another sigh, Kris closed his eyes, concentrating on Adam’s touch all over him. He doesn’t want to think about how things will be after the tour, when they have to work on their own things with hardly any time together.

 

 

“Kris!” Kris smiled before he saw Adam, he could sense him across the room, running through the airport until he’d face-planted into Adam’s chest, both their arms automatically curling around one another.

 

He breathed in, and instantly all the pain from the last for weeks disappeared, instead being replaced by the calm Adam carried around with him. “Adam...” He puffed into Adam’s shirt, the thread-bare cotton sticking to his lips until he pulled away and smiled up at the man beaming down at him.

 

They don’t need to talk; that’s something he loves about Adam. Adam just chuckled lightly, pressing his lips against Kris’ temple, and curled and arm around his shoulders, moving him through the terminal until they get outside where Kris was ambushed by the others. He was glad they had the sense to let him stay within touch of Adam - and that thought alone, that Kris was going to be ‘within touch’ of Adam for the next month and more, was enough to have him grinning like an idiot the entire way onto the bus.

 

 

It was about the fourth week into the tour, and Kris felt lighter than he had in months.

 

At the moment, he’d curled into Adam’s side, Adam listening to his Ipod and scribbling something down into his notebook, and Kris was half-sitting in his lap, his body twisted in this awkward position but with Adam’s arm linked with his he couldn’t really find himself to care.

 

There had been a point earlier with the rest of the guys on the bus that they’d actually tried to get him to leave his place, and all he’d done was look up at Adam, see those freckled lips smile and shake his head before settling back in his place. They’d given up after an hour and now it was just him and Adam still awake.

 

“Damn…” Kris looked up at Adam, seeing him staring at his ipod for a while before pulling the earbuds out and stretching. “I didn’t know it was so late, man.” He chuckled a little and closed his notebook, looking over at Kris for a bit before he realized he had to move. He thought about lifting up, throwing himself over Adam, straddling his hips so the older man couldn’t go anywhere, then reluctantly lifted out of his lap, watching him disappear into the bathroom in the back. With a sigh he pulled himself up off the couch, moving to his bunk.

 

He was awake long enough to see Adam coming out, dressed down in pajama bottoms and a tank top, mask of make up wiped away to show his freckles. He closed his eyes, more trying to push the - _very tempting_ \- thoughts out of his head - pulling himself out of his bunk and kissing the life out of Adam, pressing up against him when he’s back up to the wall, rutting against the vee of his hips until he has to push them back to the bus and pull away the wall of clothing between their heated skin and rut up against him or... _mmm... nope, stop that_ ; or pulling Adam down to him, and just licking his way into that freckled mouth, arching up into him until Adam took his shirt off to see more skin, large hands leaving a trail of goosebumps and heat in their wake, fleece covered hips pushing down onto his until Kris reached down to push them off and was met with even more heat and… _no_ \- but evidently it worked to convince Adam he’s asleep, too, since Adam leaned down into his bunk, hesitated for a moment, and stole a kiss dangerously close to his mouth. It took everything in Kris not to groan or tense up - or reach his hands into those gorgeously thick black locks, pull Adam down closer and… _stop, no, stop doing that_ \- and Adam just smiled against his skin, whispered him a good night and closed the curtains on his bunk before climbing into his own.

 

Kris let out a breath, reopening his eyes and starting at the ceiling of his bunk, the bottom of Adam’s. He reached up a hand slowly and pressed his finger tips to the still-warm spot at the corner of his lips.

 

When he fell asleep that night, he had another dream; it told him to “Keep waiting, it’ll be time to be with him soon.”

 

When he woke up, he hated that he had to follow the advice the voice was giving him. Not that he’d have much choice; he was still with Katy. And that’s right, he loved Katy, he couldn’t just leave her like that. But if you’re going to be with him sometime, doesn’t that mean you’re going to have to eventually?

 

Kris ignored the thought, crawling out of his bunk into the still dark hallway. It was freezing cold, and he knew exactly who to get to both chase away the heavy feeling in his chest and block out the cold. He reached up onto his toes, pulled away Adam’s curtain, and nudged him gently. “Adam?”

 

 

Adam was staring down at his lap across from him on the other side of the couch. “Adam?”

 

Blue eyes look up at him, and he smiles a little. “I didn’t think you were awake for that.”

 

Kris rolls his eyes; of course, out of everything he just said that’d be the one thing Adam would take out of that. “It wasn’t exactly a hardship.” He nudged at Adam’s leg when he looked back down. “What’s up?”

 

Adam shrugged, then starts chewing on his lips a bit. When he finally speaks up he doesn’t look up at him. “I was what started all this?”

 

He sounds a bit guilty. It makes Kris’ stomach twist a little. He leans toward Adam, moving so he’s pretty much fully seated in Adam’s lap and draws his arms and wings around him. “It was going to happen anyway.” He smiles and presses a kiss to Adam’s forehead when he finally looks up again. “I’m glad it did. I mean, at first everything would probably be a lot simpler.” He holds up a hand when Adam looks like he’s going to start arguing. “But, I think I’m going to be better off this way.” He drops his hand, stroking it down Adam’s cheek and delighting in the way the older man shudders a bit. “I’ll always have you, no matter what, so I think already I’m a lot better off.”

 

Adam stares at him for a while, before he just breaks into this huge grin and leans up to press their lips together. Kris leans into it, coiling his arms back around Adam’s neck, enjoying the sweet, slow slide of their mouths. He knows there’s a bit more he needs to tell Adam; like everything that happened with Katy, and that year they were separated, but for now he just lets Adam lay him back on the couch, petting his wings while he’s slowly rocking into Kris.

 

He hears the phone start buzzing over his head on the end table, and before he can reach up to silence it Adam knocks it away, sending it skidding across the carpet onto the kitchen tiles. Kris chuckles softly and pulls Adam back down. He gasps and arches up again as Adam pops open the snap on his jeans, slipping his hand inside to coil his fingers around Kris' hastily hardening length just as he's pressing their mouths back together.

 

On the cold tile the phone vibrates for a few more seconds before it goes to voicemail, Katy’s name dimming away from the screen.


	9. I Want You To Know (How I Feel Tonight)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kris continues to tell Adam about his past year; Silliness ensues after.

 

 

 

 

 

“So… What was it like after the tour?” Adam’s looking up at him with one eye, letting Kris wipe any the eyeliner on the other eye at the moment. Kris chews on his lip for a moment, then shifts on Adam’s lap a bit - he has to bite back a groan when one of the bruises Adam pressed into his skin earlier presses against Adam’s hip bone through a pair of sweats - and draws the cotton ball soaked with remover across his closed lid.

“Well…” He dropped it into the trash and picked up a fresh ball, watching Adam close the other eye. “Pretty much the same as that little break between the end of Idol and the tour.” He chuckled lightly as Adam winced, then wiped away the black on the other eye, trailing it down over the foundation, covered cheek to reveal a streak of freckles. “It was the one time I didn’t listen to the dream.”

Adam tilts his head a bit. “Meaning?”

Kris smiles, drawing his fingers over the slightly damp trail of freckles running from the corner of Adam’s eye to his jaw. “Meaning I sort of brought it upon myself.”

 

 

 

Kris stared up at the ceiling of his apartment, the buzzing ache under his skin now familiar. It’d been three weeks since he’d last seen Adam, and he hadn’t heard anything about what he should do, until last night.

“Go find him, then you can move on. You reunite with him and you’ll be what you were always meant to be.”

He shuddered, drawing the blankets of the bed a bit closer around himself, knowing they wouldn’t block out any of the cold or pain. He missed Adam… but he couldn’t do this, he wasn’t ready, no matter what his dreams said.

His body throbbed, red hot and fierce. He winced, turning in the bed to see the space next to him was empty. He had no idea where Katy was; he remembered her telling him something about having to leave early, but he couldn’t remember for what.

With another deep breath, he glanced over to his phone. He could always call Adam… But then what about Katy? He couldn’t just leave while she’s gone, it’d be unfair to her. He picked up the device from the nightstand, staring at the touch screen for a few moments, before scrolling through his contacts to Adam’s number. His thumb hesitated over the call button, before he grimaced, opened the drawer in the nightstand and shoved his phone clear to the back, shoving a book in front of it for extra measure.

He ignored how much more his body seemed to hurt after that, instead just closing his eyes and drifting back to sleep.

 

 

 

Adam looks away, another drop of remover sliding down his cheek to reveal a stream of freckles. Kris drops the cotton ball onto the counter, bringing both hands to hold Adam’s jaw and tilt the older man’s gaze up to him. He feels Adam’s hands move from around his waist to curl into the feathers behind him. “It was insanely difficult, having to shove you away like that.” He chews on his lip for a moment before bringing his lips down to the rise of Adam’s cheekbone, where there’s a bit of a smudge of eyeliner, and the foundations wearing off. “It hurt, and it was stupid of me to do that.” Kris pauses for a moment before smiling, stroking his fingers over Adam’s skin until blue eyes look up at him. “I’m glad I finally gave in.”

Adam stares at him for a while before breaking into a smile. His hands glide over the feathers, trailing over the arch of the wings and pausing as Kris unfolds them a little, then moves down to where the feathers meet skin. He shudders as Adam’s fingers trace along the ultra-sensitive skin there. “And what about when you did give in?” He smiles lightly. “What made you do it?”

Kris smiles slightly, pressing his lips gently against Adam’s. “I started losing more and more time with Katy; just times that I couldn’t keep track with her, or when I’d completely forget where she was and just… all I could think about was you.” He watches as Adam’s lips turn down, and he traces his fingers along the curved line gently. “My breaking point, well…” He pauses for a moment, thinking back to that afternoon. “I spent most of the time in bed, trying to sleep it away.” He smiles a little. “I had this vivid dream the night before.”

At Adam’s raised brow he breaks into a full grin. “You remember that one night during Idol? When we both couldn’t sleep and we decided to stay up together?” He watches Adam’s lips twitch before curling upward.

 

 

 

“Alright.” Kris jumped in his bed as Adam sat up all the sudden, slapping his hand down against the pillow and flicking on the light. He plopped onto the bed again, facing Kris, and prodded him with his foot. “Get up, Kristopher. I know you’re not asleep.”

“Well.” Kris sat up, feeling heavy and tired but still electrified underneath. It’s the reason he can’t sleep; he’d be willing to bet Adam had the same problem. “I might’ve been if you hadn’t had that dramatic outburst with your pillow, there.”

Adam rolled his eyes, then brought his legs up, crossing them and gesturing for Kris to do the same. With a few amused huffs and Adam glaring at him, he shifted into position, then stared expectantly over at the other man. “Now what?”

Kris watched as white teeth cut into a freckled lip for a moment, shaking himself off just in time as Adam to figured something out and was standing up again. “Move, back to the headboard.” Kris had the chance to blink a few times before Adam manhandled him the way he wanted anyway, then sat across from him, legs cross like before. Now, though, he took Kris’ hands in his and lay them across his lap, palms up. “I’ve always wanted to try this.”

It took him a few seconds to figure out what Adam meant, then he had to roll his eyes because _of course_ that’s what Adam would want to do when they couldn’t sleep. He always had the sneaking suspicion Adam was truly a teenage girl at heart. He sat back against the headboard - taking a second to wonder when Adam piled all the pillows back against it - and watched Adam trace the lines in his hands, his brow furrowed in concentration. Finally freckled lips turned up in a smile and Adam looked up. “Okay, I think I got it.” He traced along a line near Kris' fingers. “It starts out with a bit of a wave to it, which means that you would have many relationships and a lack of anything serious.” He grinned then, going further along the line. “Then it goes nice and solid, deep.”

“Meaning a stable, serious relationship?”

Adam grinned and nodded, then moved along a line that intercepted the one from before, his face scrunching up a little. “Your fate line intercepts with the break just before that. Which is weird.” He stared at it for a bit longer then shrugged. “I don’t know all that much about it so I can’t be sure, but I’d think it’d mean that the stable, serious relationship of yours would come from a huge decision you make…” He hesitated for a moment. “Or already made.” He added on, glancing up at Kris and seeming a little nervous. Kris ignored it, along with the insinuation of Adam’s words.

He shook his head to clear it, watching warily as Adam started looking over another line. He zoned out, not hearing the rest of the palm reading, just watching Adam talk and trying not to shiver as his fingers traced along his hand.

They moved on from palm-reading, to peering out the half-assed balcony - just a pair of French doors with maybe enough room for something half Kris’ size to stand with the furniture pre-deposited by Idol - to see constellations, and at one point listing off all the ridiculous things they wanted to do after the show was over.

They stumbled around the obvious subject for both of them; each being blissfully unaware of the other’s hesitance toward the subject.

 

 

 

Adam grins. “That was a fucking awesome night.”

Kris nods, laughing a little. “It was.” He brings one of Adam’s hands up, tracing the same lines Adam was in his hands. He notices - he remembers that night, the lines in his palm, studying them for hours after - there’s a break in Adam’s at the same area as Kris’, that same line cutting vertically through it, but looking a bit shallower than Kris’. “Having that dream, remembering what you saw… It just, it made me realize what I was doing was just stupid; I could exactly hide from it forever.”

He drops Adam’s hand and stares into deep blue eyes, wings moving to wrap them in a loose cocoon without his permission. Adam just smiles, though, so he continues. “So I picked up that phone and, by that point the pain was bad enough I couldn’t even feel or see if I was dialing right, and that’s when I called you… the voice message I left was just before the wings came in.”

Adam stares at him for a bit, then realization takes over the scrunched up, confused features. “So… that message I got before, with all the heavy breathing and shit. That’s… that was when you…” He trails off when Kris nods. It’s quiet after that, but it’s comforting rather than awkward. Kris feels Adam’s finger tips tracing along the edge of the wings, and it’s almost in a… like he cherishes them and Kris and everything that comes with him. It rocked a shudder through Kris’ body, and when he looked down at Adam, there was a small smile there.

The wings start to unfold slowly, dragging along Adam’s back and drawing a shiver from the man below him. He feels his lips curl slightly, and leans down to press their mouths together, sweet and slow. Adam has been good about all of this; he thinks if he were in Adam’s position he’d have freaked out or something. Then again, aside from the first few minutes since he’d seen them, Adam’s been pretty partial to the wings, and everything that they’re both learning that comes with them. He used to think that Adam was just accepting them so openly for Kris but… he sort of understands now.

Kris grabs at Adam’s hand again, tracing the heart line and following the fate line when it breaks through it. It was always meant to be. He smiles into the kiss and presses in harder. It’s what I’ve always wanted…

 

 

 

“Stop it.” Kris giggles when Adam snuggles up behind him while he’s trying to make them something for lunch. They don’t feel like getting dressed to go out - or order in - and Kris desperately needs something to do or he’s probably going to end up jumping on Adam again. He doesn’t think the other man would mind, though.

“Aww, c’mon Kwis.” He snorts, Adam can be sort of ridiculous at times. He loves him all the same.

“Dork.” He picks up their plates - it’s simple pb&j, but with his cooking skills - or lack there-of - combined with Adam's pawing at him the entire time it’s the best he’s got… especially considering his limbs are still of jelly like consistency from before - and brings them to the little breakfast bar by the counter. Adam’s already hopped onto a stool, pulling the one beside him closer with a grin. Kris just rolls his eyes and takes the seat, watches as Adam grins at the sandwich but eats it happily none-the-less.

“Mmm, wait.” Kris puts down the crusts - bread crusts are evil, he doesn’t care what anyone says - and swipes away a bit of jelly dotted on Adam’s cheek, licking it away after. Adam stares at him for a while before grinning evilly. Kris freezes; as much as he loves Adam inside him and all that he doesn’t really think he can take anymore. “Uh… Adam… I don’t think-”

He flinches as he feels something flick onto his cheek, then blinks and wipes it away to see a dark purple substance on his fingers. He looks up at Adam, sees blue eyes gleaming mischievously, sucking on his fingers, his sandwich pretty much gutted and a bit of jelly missing on one side of the bread. “Oh hell no.” He picks up a crush and throws it at Adam’s head, cracking up when it catches and hangs in his hair.

Adam gasps, then narrows his eyes. “Oh no you didn’t.” He takes a swipe of peanut butter this time, aiming his finger right for Kris’ hair. “You’re asking for it, Allen.”

A shrill shriek breaks through the house as the boys trade off by throwing everything readily available at each other - Adam ends up covering in honey from Kris squeezing the bottle over him; Kris’ skin is syrup and sugar coated. Soon after they start cleaning each other off - Kris discovers Adam’s skin tastes like heaven with the sweet gloss over the freckles.

The voice message remains unchecked; even as the phone buzzes for the third time that day with Katy’s name flashing on the screen.

 

 

 

 

 


	10. You're Already The Voice Inside My Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kris finally answers Katy's call.

 

 

 

 

 

Adam stretches out, curling Kris a bit closer as the younger man giggles. “Think we can we move off the kitchen floor anytime soon?”

He grins, tracing fingers over the golden skin stretching over his stomach. Kris starts giggling even more, wiggling around on the tile for a while until his hand connects with his phone, sending it skittering across the floor. Both men look up at it, watching it until it starts to vibrate again.

Kris picks it up, pressing it to his ear without checking who was calling. “Hello?”

Adam watches as Kris’ eyes widen a little and look over at him before he sits up.

“Oh, um, Katy…” Adam watches the wings sag a little; he sits up, scooting closer to Kris and lacing his fingers with the hand resting on the other man’s lap. “What’s wrong?”

Kris listens for a bit, his face falling every second. He lowers the phone after a while, looking up at Adam.

Adam waits for a bit, watching Kris’ mouth work with no sound coming out. “Well?”

Kris seals his lips together and shakes his head, dropping his eyes to the floor. “She said that…” He takes a quick breath. “Her new… boyfriend…” He flinches just a little, Adam flinches right along with him. He knows Kris is happy but losing someone as close to him as Katy was is still going to hurt for a while, he knows that much. “She said that she started finding these feathers all around.” He lowered his voice. “She’s afraid that he’ll end up like… like me.”

Adam winces and glares at the phone for a moment before looking back up at Kris. “So, why’d she call?”

Kris stares at him for a while before shaking his head and laughing slightly. “She’s just asking for help with it and…” He shrugs. “I-I guess it’s just a bit of a shock that she called me in the first place.”

“Yeah…” Adam watches him then, he figures it can’t do any harm, and if there _is_ anything to hurt Kris in anyway, shape, or form, Adam will kick some little petite-southern-blond ass. He unfolds himself up from the floor, glancing back at Kris - who’s now gone back to talking to Katy; his expression a bit shaky but looking relieved, at least - before leaving the room.

With a sigh he pouts his way into the living room, flopping onto the couch and stretching out as well as he can. Might as well give Kris a good show when he comes back. Adam smirks, finding a lone black feather probably fallen from their earlier round of lovemaking wedged between the cushions and sending it dancing across his own skin. He follows the same path Kris did the first time; trailing over the thigh, up and around the place he wants the teasing touch most, tickling down through the sculpted line of hair leading to Kris’ prize.

Adam’s hips buck up into the touch, catching on soft tufts of down and making him have to bite back on his teeth to hold in a moan. He can practically see Kris settled between his legs, looking heavenly and sinful all at once with wings stretched out enough to cradle his knees, pink tongue swirling over pink lips… a breath away from…

“HO _oohmygod_.”

Adam looks up and grins at Kris, the phone clattering to the floor as he stares at Adam, mouth hanging open. It makes Adam’s hips buck again, the tip of his cock brushing against the tickling touch and making him moan, which makes Kris gargle some unintelligible noise. Adam giggles and flicks the feather away, the black point bouncing off of Kris’ calve to the floor and looking like it was almost enough to make him buckle down to the ground.

 _Well, let see if we can make that happen._

Adam coils his fingers around his cock and it’s not even half a second before Kris is moaning and stumbling across the way. The angel falls to his knees between Adam’s legs, licking his lips just like in Adam’s fantasy and making a moan slip past his own with the first thrust into his own fist.

He feels a shock run up his spine as Kris’ eyes follow his hand, brown eyes wide and pretty, pink mouth shiny and slack and looking perfectly bitable. Just as he’s about to reach down to pull Kris into his lap for a kiss - and other, quite obvious reasons - he hears Kris clear his throat and speak up. “Adam?”

He shakes his head, the fantasy slipping away and seeing Kris standing in the doorway leading from the kitchen, face - and neck and chest - a gorgeous red, his eyes glued to where Adam’s hand is wrapped around himself. He catches the phone in Kris’ hand and grins, slowly uncoiling his fingers with a hum. “Couldn’t help it.” He wiggles his butt on the couch a bit. “Remembered earlier and…” His grin turns sinister and seductive. “ _You know_ …”

Kris squeaks - Adam has to bite back a giggle - and nearly drops the phone. Adam rolls his eyes and reaches back behind the couch to grab a blanket and pull it over himself. “Happy?”

He watches Kris for a moment, then sees him pout. “No.” He walks over and throws the blanket off, then drapes himself over Adam.

Adam snorts. “Did you really just get jealous over a _blanket_?”

“…Maybe.” Kris turns his head. “What about it?”

Adam holds his hands up and laughs. “Nothing, nothing.” He drops his hands back, combing his fingers through fluffy brown hair, his other palm sliding up and down the dip in Kris’ waist, occasionally moving up over the span of feathers laying over his knees.

Then, he just can’t wait anymore and has to know. “How’d the talk with Katy go?”

Kris stiffens, just a bit, then relaxes back into Adam. “Good.” His voice sounds a bit choked up, and when Adam doesn’t say anything after a while he sighs. “She… she apologized about what happened after…” His wings twitch; Adam gives them a calming stroke in response. “She said it was a shock to her, and just… it was just so…” He swirled his hand in the air for a bit, and Adam had to bite back a grin when he felt one of Kris’ wings following the movement against his skin.

“Shocking?”

Kris smiles. “Yeah, I guess.” He huffs, scooting forward to bury his face against Adam’s stomach. “And I’m just… curious. It got me wondering.” He looked up at Adam. “I know you’ve told me this before, but… really, why didn’t you react more when you saw me?” He rotates the wings again, feathers tickling Adam’s skin. “When you saw these?”

Adam stares down at him for a few seconds, then shrugs. There’s not really something he can say about it; he knows it is a little odd how he didn’t… you know, flip out more when his best friend arrived naked, gift-wrapped in his sheets and ebony feathers. “I dunno.” He looks over Kris, then clucks his tongue. “Just, you know, didn’t surprise me that much I guess.”

Kris’ brow furrows. “So you _expected_ me to go half bird all the sudden?”

He rolls his eyes. “No.” He flicks Kris’ shoulder, glad to see a bit of mirth coming back. But there’s still that determined look there, too, so he still needs to explain this that he can’t really explain. He sighs. “It’s hard to explain. It’s like… I was surprised, yeah, but then there was something that just… made sense about it. Like something was inside me saying ‘ _This is supposed to happen_.’”

Kris stares over at him, the humor in his eyes from before gone and replaced with this kind of giddiness that Adam can feel buzzing under golden skin. All the sudden Kris’ face stretches into this huge, contagious, all-encompassing smile and stretches up to press his lips to Adam’s. The angle is awkward and undoubtedly twice as uncomfortable for Adam’s neck as it is for Kris’, but he really couldn’t care less.

He slips a hand into fluffy brown hair, the heel digging into the edge of Kris’ jaw and a slight twist of his wrist has it dragging against light stubble and making the both of them groan out in the quiet room. Adam’s more than willing to go along with the way the hand not holding Kris up is tugging at him but he remembers. “So.” He mutters between a kiss. “What-” _kiss_ “else did-” _kiss kiss_ “she say?”

Kris is halfway to another kiss then pauses, sighs and flops back into Adam’s lap, pouting. Adam can’t help but smile - his dreams from the moment he saw Kris across the hotel lobby that faithful day are true, really, hopelessly, _honestly_ true and it’s insane and euphoric and everything else Adam’s brain can’t quite handle at the moment; he can’t really help a smile at Kris loving all of this as much as he does - and digs his fingers into Kris’ scalp, massaging and watching brown eyes slip shut and delicious - well-kissed, _thank you very much_ \- full lip being bitten into before slipping out with another huff. “She… she said she signed the papers.”

 _Oh._ Adam watches Kris look away, eyes opening only to stare at Adam’s stomach sadly. He brushes his thumb along Kris’ skin, circling comfort into his temple and watching the wings draped over his knees fall slightly.

A few seconds pass in silence before Kris shakes himself and sits up, taking Adam’s hands on the way. “It’s better now, though.” He traces a touch against Adam’s skin. “Everything that’s happened since… these wings came in, it’s proven that.” He stares down at their joined hands then smiles. “I don’t think I could’ve honestly survived all that’s happened without you.”

When Kris meets his eyes again, Adam’s heart just crumbles; a kiss in each piece until he just feels like the only thing left in him is love, thumping in time with the pulse he can feel where his finger tips are against Kris’ wrists. The look in his eyes is… there… there’s nothing to describe it. Even the look from before that made Adam feel like the only person in the universe that Kris could see or exist in his world - _that_ doesn’t even compare to this.

After a moment Kris’ lips tilt into a smile and he unlocks one of their hands and wipe away the tears Adam didn’t know he was crying. “Hey…”

Adam swallows the lump in his throat and shakes his head, squeezing probably entirely too tight on the hand still laced with his. He inhales - sharp and sweet and making his head stop it’s spinning - then reaches across the small space between them and tells Kris everything through a kiss.

Kris’ arms and hands and everywhere - _god_ \- he’s _everywhere_ _in the room_ and _in Adam_ and all he can think is _I love you, I love you, love you, love_. It throbs and Kris’ presence there and… he wants to shake himself because he knows, he’s not making sense, and Kris is stroking up and down his arm and up his neck like he’s worried for Adam but doing that would mean breaking away from _this_ and… and _he_ _can’t do that_.

“Adam… shh…” Kris’ words drop right on his lips, sending a shudder through his body; he realizes his face is wet again and he’s shaking and muttering something. “Shh, I love you, too, baby. I love you.” Kris brings a hand up to lace into Adam’s hand and squeezes himself into his chest and automatically Adam’s arms go around him and it’s so _perfect_.

Adam flinches, his breath hitching when Kris’ hand glides down over his shoulder blades and to his back; it’s like Kris’ touch is leaving trails of fire and…

His mind goes black as Kris tilts up just enough to give Adam the sweetest kiss of his life. He can’t help the broad grin stretching across his face as he realizes in the back of his mind that’s not concentrating on _this_ , that he’s going to have more kisses like this for the rest of his long, happy life.

 

 

 

 

 


	11. I Want To Make You Move (Because You’re Standing Still) + Drabble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kris notices Adam’s been acting a little different recently; Kris talks with Katy. + Sick Kris Drabble

 

 

 

 

 _Rattle, rattle…_ ** _clink_**.

     Kris wiggles on the sheets a bit, grimacing as he realizes the sun’s just barely up and cursing whatever’s making that noise to wake him up. He kicks his feet out and opens his eyes fully when he realizes Adam’s not beside him. _Huh, maybe it’s the cold the woke me up_. He sits up a bit and looks around the room, then peers to the open bathroom door when he hears the faucet running. “Adam?”

Apparently his small, sleep-roughened voice is enough for Adam to hear over the water, since the faucets cut off, there’s the sound of something hitting the counter and a sleep-mussed and grimacing Adam peeks out from the doorway. The light flicks off and the minimal light coming from the sunrise out the window is enough for him to see how Adam’s almost flinching with every step. It’s more than enough to have him standing up and fully awake. “Adam, Adam what’s wrong?”

Blue eyes look over him then he manages a bit of a smile and forces one of Kris’ rising wings down behind his back again. He shuffles the rest of the way to the bed, flops down - it’s uncharacteristically ungraceful; Kris starts to worry just a bit more - and waves a hand at him. “My back was just bothering me a bit, that’s all.” He pauses then winces. “I don’t think having you ride me on the kitchen table was that good of an idea.”

 _I thought it was fantastic, actually._ Kris shakes his head; it’s a fun memory - really, really fun, his ass is still a little sore - but he will not be distracted. “Are you okay?”

Adam’s lips turn down and he waves off the question again, squirming around until there’s enough space for Kris and curling his arms around his waist when he lays down. “I’ll be fine.” He leans forward and presses his lips gently against Kris’. “Just go back to sleep.”

Kris stares at him for a bit longer, wings twitching behind him until they finally settle and the bottom one tucks itself against the curve of his back while the other curls around Adam’s lower back and pulls them together a bit closer. He tucks his face into Adam’s neck, and ignores the niggling feeling itching at the back of his head in favor of sleep.

 

 

When he wakes up again Adam’s not there beside him, but it seems to be a more reasonable time of day, at least. “Adam?”

“Out here.” Kris blinks and sits up; Adam sounds distracted, or… _Maybe he's still hurt from last night. Fuck, if he is... damn, I..._

He gets up and out of the bed before his mind wanders off and finds Adam sitting on the floor of the guest room - Kris’ old room - turned studio, gnawing on a pen as he stares down at a notebook in his lap. He feels his shoulders sagging in relief behind him and the tips of his wings catch on the skin of his calves, which is enough to make his leg jerk forward and bring Adam’s attention to him.

A bright smile spreads across his face, and he sets aside the notebook and stands up - Kris notices the bit of hesitation there, and the tiny flinch, and it’s enough to make him rush over to help Adam up. Adam grins at him, then sweeps in for another kiss that sets them both off-balance before Kris straightens them again.

“Mmmn.” Adam nuzzles into Kris’ shoulder, beaming against his skin. “I was writing a song ‘bout you.”

Adam giggles, and Kris remembers the times back on Idol, when they were running low on sleep and he would slur and barely be able to walk while Adam got even more energetic and giddy than usual until he passed out. Kris furrows his brow. “Were you okay after you woke up?”

Adam tilts his head, blinking over at him. “Yeah, ‘course.” He shrugs. “Was a bit on and off tryin’ to get back to sleep but I feel fine.”

Kris looks over him, then sighs and tugs him in with a wing around the waist, using his hands to move over Adam’s back to soothe the pain he doesn’t know is there still or not. It’s quiet for a bit, Adam practically purring and arching up under Kris’ touch, wiggling happily. It’s funny, now that he thinks about it; it’s a bit of a role reversal. Kris is always squirming around for Adam’s touch - especially along the sharp arches of his wings; it’s like tiny bits of lightning striking over every inch from every freckle - while Adam just grinned and provided.

“Heh.” Adam hiccups, giggling a bit. “It is.”

 _Huh?_ “Is there a part of the conversation I missed?”

Adam swivels his head around on Kris’ shoulder, eyes glassy when he first looks up before he shakes his head and seems to clear up a bit. “Oh. Sorry.” He pauses for a moment. “Guess, I mean…”

 _Maybe he’s still tired._ “You can go take a nap or something if you want.” Kris gestured around the music room with a grin. “Besides, I have a lot more catching up to do than you.”

“Right.” Adam unglues himself from Kris’ arm and shoulder, rubbing at his eyes with one hand and stroking along the arch of the wing cradled around his hips before wobbling off in the direction of the bedroom. Kris peeks his head out the door to make sure he gets there without any problems then grabs his notebook off the desk in the corner to get to work.

  
“Okay, yeah… I get it. No, no, it’s… it’s fine, I’ll figure something out.”

Adam blinks awake, then bites back a groan when he shifts and something along his shoulders twinges. The dream he’d had was… weird. It… It almost sounded like Kris was talking to him through it but with Kris’ voice floating in through the hall he figures that just transferred into his dreams.

“Yep, see you. Yeah I… it’s… bye.”

 _Mmm_. Adam sits up, grimacing slightly. Katy. That’s what he thinks anyway. He can ask Kris about it when he comes in. For now, he needs to wobble his way toward the pain killers.

“Hey, see you’re up now.” Kris leans up against the door jamb, wings tucked close around him, the way he usually does when he’s moving through a group, less catching-people-in-the-wingspan. “Feeling better?”

Adam bobs his head; it’s not exactly true, but it’s not horrible pain or anything. More like a buzzing just beneath his skin that smarts if he moves wrong. “’m good.” He stands up, steadying himself with the bed frame then wobbling more-or-less toward the bathroom, popping open the bottle on the counter and gulping one of them down as Kris’ arms wrap around his waist from behind. “Hey.”

Kris smiles against his skin. “Hey.” He presses a kiss to Adam’s neck then lifts up so his chin is settled on Adam’s shoulder, brown eyes looking at their shared reflection in the mirror. He opens his mouth for a moment, before shutting it again and turning his face back into Adam’s skin. Adam just brings a hand up, curling around the curve of the black wings and stroking until Kris looks back. “Katy called…” He shifts a bit then presses a quick, dry kiss to Adam’s neck. “She asked if she could come visit us or something. I guess… make amends, I dunno.”

Brown eyes drop away from the mirror again and Adam huffs, turning in Kris’ arms to face him and lifting his head up. “It’s fine.” He smiles when Kris blinks at him. “You don’t have to worry about me or what anyone else will think about this; if you are alright with it, it’s good.”

Kris blinks again, then smiles and nods. He lifts up onto his toes, wings spreading out a little, and presses his mouth firmly against Adam’s.

Adam just envelopes Kris in his arms, squeezes tight, and ignores how it makes a spark of pain flash along his shoulder blades, instead just trying to keep their mouths together for as long as possible.

Later that night, after they’ve made love and cried out in unison, Adam falls beside Kris, wincing slightly as it sets off that twinge along his back again, and lets Kris curl around him. Kris’ hands guide up until they settle on his shoulder blades and he flinches; it’s not exactly pain, Kris’ touch there makes it feel better, actually. It’s just…  
 _  
There’s something wrong…_

 

 

**·   ·   ·   ·   ·  
**

  


  


**  
**

Rating: PG  
Summary: Kris is sick, Adam takes care of him - and teases him. Part of the wing!Kris series; a short little drabble that wouldn’t go away and was written just because, hey, sick!Kris + wing!Kris? Gotta be interesting, right? (nope)  
Warnings: Light cussing, teasing

  
“Kris?”

“ _Mnneerg_ …”

Adam bites into his lip to stop from laughing; it’d be really inappropriate and he’s sure he’d get hit in the head with whatever is closest as soon as he turns around the corner if Kris heard him. He peers into the living room then smiles when he sees the mound of blankets on the sectional, black feathers sticking out of the sides and various bottles of water surrounding the area. He manages to find the fold in the blankets to pull them up over Kris’ head… his heart sort of instantly melts.

Kris is staring up at him with dazed, half-lidded eyes, sticky with sweat and noticeably whiter than usual. Adam clucks his tongue as his fingers brush over Kris’ forehead; he’s burning up. “You take anything for this?”

He watches Kris shake his head, pouting and grumbling some more, then pulls him up a bit so he’s sitting up, propped against the arm of the couch and halfway on the cushion, then hands him one of the cooler bottles of water before standing up. “Drink this. I’ll get you some tea and something for the fever.”

Kris groans, but he’s already untwisting the cap on the bottle, hands shaking just a bit. Adam sees Kris’ wings are hanging low now, and… there’s something else different about them, too, that he can’t quite figure out. Shaking his head, he makes his way into the kitchen, starts heating up the water for the tea and grabs the Tylenol and another bottle of cool water before moving back to Kris. With a grimace, Kris takes two of the pills and gulps them down with a little more than half the bottle before slumping back against the cushions.

Adam blinks when he sees a couple feathers twirling down onto the cushion, and then it clicks. “Are you _molting_?”

Kris stares at him then flushes and looks away. Another feather twirls down and it’s all Adam can do not to start giggling because, _really_?

“Shut up…” He weakly shoves at Adam’s chest, then groans and tucks the wings around him as he gets a cold chill. Adam just smiles - he’s not giggling but he really can’t do anything more to hide the huge ridiculous smile he has - and stands up to finish up the tea, adding the bit of lemon that he knows Kris is going to complain about but judging from how scratchy his voice is…

“ _Nugh_ …”

Adam has a feeling that by the time this cold or whatever this is blows over, his cheek is going to be holey as hell from how much he’s having to bite at it.

“Better?”

Kris smiles; he still looks a little pale, but the fever’s mostly gone at this point. “Mmhmm.” He arches up with a bit of a groan. “ _Mmm_ … little to the left?”

Adam grins, moving the brush over on the wing. Turned out the itching was the worst part of it, and the brush works well enough to comb out all the stray feathers and sooth the irritation without being rough. After a few strokes he pauses to pluck out the smaller bits of plumage, then he grins. “Think I could use these for my next tour jacket?”

Maybe he deserved the elbow he got for that… he would find something to do with all the ebony feathers pasted to the couch and blankets and settled in his lap. Whether Kris liked it or not.

 

 

 


	12. I Want It All, I Want It All Inside of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It’s just crazy. And the… that like mind connection thing. We had that before and now it’s…  
> It’s almost like we’re tied together."

 

 

 _Ow! What the…_

Kris opens his eyes, meeting only the pitch-black darkness of the night; something just smacked him in the back, _hard_. He groans and turns, then gasps. “Adam!”

Adam’s on his side, his back toward Kris, spine curved with tension and heaving gasps with his eyes pinched shut. Kris flicks on the light and looks over Adam. His shoulders are bowed out, the blades lifted out and something clicks. “Holy shit…” Kris stumbles out, falling to the floor in front of Adam and placing his hands over Adam’s jaw, watching his glassy eyes open slightly and focus on Kris.

Adam’s lips curl up slightly, a hand uncurling from his waist and lifting up wobbly toward his face. “Kris…”

Kris’ wings unfurl a little, one curling over Adam’s hip. The room almost felt filled with electricity, feeling like his feathers were standing up on end. Kris’ brow furrows, his hand skimming over Adam’s clammy skin softly, moving over his shoulder to his shoulder blades. Adam inhales sharply, curling in, his face pushing into Kris’ neck.

Adam breathes out, then lifts his head up a little to look up at him. “What’s wrong with me…?”

 _I think I have an idea._ Kris strokes soothingly over the rising peaks, just as his probably were all those months ago just before… _But why? Why would this happen all the sudden?_

“It…” Kris draws his hand back to cup Adam’s cheek. “It’ll be okay…”

Adam looks up at him through half lidded eyes, then nods, smiling slightly as his eyes close the rest of the way. “’m gonna sleep now…”

Kris smiles lightly, stroking his knuckles along Adam’s cheek. “Okay…” He presses a kiss to Adam’s forehead, pushing back Adam’s hair gently until his breaths even out. His voice is still sounding a little scratchy, but the grimace is gone. Kris huffs; he’s going to have to figure out something to help Adam with this…

He stands up, walking backwards out of the room, keeping his eyes on Adam until he’s out then rushing out into the kitchen for water, wash cloths and back into the bathroom for painkillers and some gauze. Setting everything by the bedside he sits on the side of the bed Adam’s not occupying, bites his lip, and waits. It should be a bit until that pain peaks and… then they should be coming in.

His wings fold around him, almost frowning behind his back; they still feel electrified, like they’re just as anxious about what’s about to happen as Kris is.

  
“Kris…?”

Kris jumps up from where he’s slumped against the bedpost and looks over Adam. Blue eyes are darting around the room everywhere, his breaths coming quickly and hands fisted tightly in the sheets. “Adam? Adam, what’s wrong?”

His eyes focus, finally, and he looks back up at Kris and lets out a breath. “Nothin’.” Adam slowly uncurls his fingers from the sheets and reaches a hand out until Kris brings his hand up to lace together with it. His lips curl in a tiny, freckled smile. “It was really bad just a moment ago but now... it doesn’t hurt at all.”

 _Crap. Crap, crap, crap._ “Okay, Adam.” Kris shifts the blankets around until Adam can lay on his stomach and helps him roll over. He gapes when he sees that everything looks… normal. Was it just some nightmare, or something? Kris reaches out his other hand slowly, until his finger tips brush against freckled peaks of Adam’s shoulder blades - he yanks his hand back like it's burnt as Adam lets out a yelp and they jump up against his fingers.

Adam’s grip on his hand tightens and he groans into the pillow, and the next second a series of snaps fill the air and it’s like something almost breaks along Adam’s back.

White flashes out in the room, a good nine feet of white feathers stretching out above the bed. Kris stares; after hearing Adam’s breath hitch he looks back and sees Adam’s head turned slightly on the pillow, his eyes wide and staring at a few of the white feathers that twirled down when the wings came out. His grip on Kris’ hand loosens a bit and he looks up at him.  
 _  
What… what happened… Kris?_

He blinks; he could hear Adam so clearly but… his mouth didn’t move at all… He watches for a bit, seeing Adam’s eyebrows lift and eyes widen impossibly wider.

 _Holy shit._

Yeah, Kris couldn’t find any better way to sum all of this up.

  
 _Okay, so that makes them come in, and… this should - shit._

Adam breathes out a sigh as Kris dives over to catch the picture Adam’s… wing - _holy fuck, how is this real_ \- clipped and knocked off. “Thanks.” He sighs and tries to tuck the wings around himself like Kris has done but he ends up whacking himself in the arm. Kris - to his credit - just smiles and sets the picture on the nightstand, sitting himself beside Adam and leaning into him.

“They are kinda pretty.” Kris says, reaching a hand up to brush against the feathers. He grins. “It looks like they’re freckled.”

Adam arches a brow then turns his head; the feathers are white and it almost looks like… “Oh my god they are.” He moans; staring sadly at the thousands of ginger spots along the feathers.

Kris giggled, turning his head just enough to press a quick kiss to Adam's shoulder then strokes along the feathers again - _oh, now I see why Kris likes that so much… mmm_ \- before speaking up. “I think they’re amazing.” He grins. “You’re amazing…”

Adam feels himself flush and looks away. It’s a bit… weird. He feels off-balance but at the same time… not. Like, the scales of the universe have evened up when he didn’t even know they were ever uneven. “Kris?”

“Hmm?”

“Why do you think…? You know… Why’d this happen?”

Kris lifts his head up, mouth tilted slightly as he let out a light hum. “I dunno.” He paused for a moment then turned to Adam more. “I dunno why it happened to me, either. All I know is just from those dreams I’ve been having, and that’s just that it was always supposed to happen, that it was fate, I guess.”  
 _  
Wait, dreams?_ Adam vaguely remembers Kris telling him about something in them; that it was like Adam was everywhere around him in a field of some sort and… talking to him. _Holy shit._

“I… I thought, _ohmygod_ , I thought that I was hearing you talking to me just because you were talking on the phone but if you were having those before and now I have-”

Adam stops when Kris squeezes his hands. “Whoa, Adam, slow down. What are you talking about?”

He takes a breath, then notices the… wings are kind of trembling behind him, twitching and curling and uncurling and he forces himself to take a few more breaths until he feels somewhat calmer and the wings settle. This is crazy… “I… Yesterday… I had this dream and… it sounded like you were talking to me through it but when I woke up you were just talking on the phone so I figured it was nothing but…” Adam pauses for a moment, trying to remember exactly what was in the dream. It doesn’t take long before it all floods back into his mind with crazy clarity. “It was your voice, soothing me… you were reassuring me not to worry and…” He closes his eyes; it’s like Kris’ dream, like Kris is all around him… it’s not as obvious, just Adam floating peacefully along and it feels like Kris is holding him, squeezing him close. “You were everywhere.” He smiles slightly. “There were even black feathers.” He mutters, stroking one of them as he does.

Kris is quiet, and when he looks up Adam sees brown eyes lowered toward the bed, white teeth worrying a full lip. After a moment he laughs and shakes his head. “This is insane…” He looks up at Adam, smiling. “It’s enough just to have all this soul mate stuff and the wings but this?”  
 _  
It’s just crazy. And the… that like mind connection thing. We had that before and now it’s…_

 _It’s almost like we’re tied together._ Kris startles when Adam finishes the thought… with his own thought - _well, that’s a bit of a mind fuck_ \- then bursts out laughing. “This is crazy.”

Adam grins. “It is.”

There’s a beat, and then a black wing folds out to encase one of Adam’s, sending a jolt through his skin that has him curling the sheets into his fists. “I think it’s kinda perfect.”

White wings straighten out before fluttering down and something… itches between his shoulder blades before he leans forward and presses his mouth against Kris’ and this spark of light and warmth and fire and electricity pumps through his body, coming to rest in his chest to leave a feeling of completeness.

He couldn’t agree more.

  
“Well, what the hell are we going to do about the label?” Adam groans; Kris is currently straddling his hips and stroking over his still-sore back with a warm cloth and it feels _amazing_.

Kris pauses for a moment - Adam is not ashamed of how he’s wiggling to get him to start again - then strokes along his damp spine. “We’re going to have more press and there’s probably going to be an explosion of interviews lined up for both of us when this gets out.” He hesitates again and Adam gets a flash in his mind of all those news stories and Kris after the trip out the first time, with blood and bruises and feathers missing. His hands tighten in the sheets and his stomach clenches.

He bucks up until Kris shifts off of him and sits up again. “I…” He looks to his lap; the thought of that happening, to either of them? It’s petrifying. How Kris was as composed and brave as he was is a miracle. “I dunno if I…”

He doesn’t want to say it. It feels like he’s letting Kris down and being a coward but he doesn’t want to face that possibility. He’s usually pretty good at reading how news is going to break with the press and this? He has no clue. He’s going blind into this and that scares him more than anything and -

Kris’ hand closes around his and he looks up; he can feel his eyes are huge and he’s shaking. “It’s fine.” Kris strokes his thumb over Adam’s knuckles, rubbing the calm into him and slowly diffusing his nerves. “We don’t have to do it immediately. I can call Lane and tell her that something came up or… whatever you want. It’s your choice.”

Adam nods, then slowly relaxes back onto the bed. Fuck, what about his mom? What’s he going to tell her? She’s had to of heard about all of those anti-winged stories. He’s going to have to tell everyone before the press; his parents, Neil… Dani, Brad, Alli and Ali… He can’t just tell them over the phone, it’d be cheating, but they can’t exactly go around without someone noticing and taking a picture of it.

He hears Kris make a noise behind him and stop the cleaning of his back again. “Actually, there is a way around that. It’s a bit weird but it works well enough.” He hesitates for a moment and when Adam sits up he sees Kris grimacing a bit. “It’s definitely better than stuffing into a car.”

Kris looks over at him, then spreads out his wings and grins, then pushes this image into Adam’s brain. He feels like he’s thousands of feet in the air but, it’s just him, and the wind around him combing through his hair and over his skin and holy _fuck_ -

“What the fu- _Really_?! We can do that?”

Kris bursts out laughing, then winks. “Once we clean you up and get something to cover you up I’ll show you.”

 _This. Was. Awesome._

 

 

 _  
_


	13. Since We Met You Know You've Had The Best of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam finds out the perks of the wings; They make moves to tell everyone close to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops! Apparently missed posting this chapter up earlier. Fixed now and hopefully there's not too many other missing chapters.

__

__

_Mmm… That feels really good…_   


 

Adam moans into his arms as Kris drags the cool, dripping wet cloth over his skin, removing the stickiness that he refuses to think of as red and that does not belong in his body. Mostly because if he does he’s going to freak out or something because it feels like it’s covering his entire back and that’s entirely too much.   


 

Considering what he’s cleaning up, Kris is quiet the entire time… mostly. Whenever he pauses for a moment to stroke along the white feathers - either to soothe Adam because,  _uhnnn that feels so good_ , or to take a bit of attention off his current task.   


 

“So pretty…” Kris makes an odd humming noise as he trails his fingers along the arch, drawing a shiver from Adam. “They glitter a little, even.”   


 

_What, really?_  Adam tries to tilt at least the tip of a wing into his vision but ends up bumping the end table and knocking one of their phones off. He grumbles. “How the hell can you move them so easily?”   


 

Kris chuckles. “It takes some getting used to.” He pauses for a moment to prod at the ridges around them and - _ohhhh, god… why didn’t he ever say that felt so good? Mmm_ \- clucks his tongue. “The skin around them is still a bit swollen and all that, so I’d say by tomorrow when that all clears up you should be good to go.”   


 

Adam groans as Kris strokes along the skin there again. He turns his head and hisses through his teeth. “You’re doing that on purpose.” The grin on Kris’ face is more than enough proof.   


 

“Maybe.” Adam arches up as Kris fingers glide over again and then flow up over the wings along the arch until he flattens his palm and strokes along with the feathers. He realizes -  _ohmyg_  - that he’s insanely, painfully hard and it’s more than a little mind-boggling. And then the next thing Kris does is spread his palm directly between the wing ridges, dig his fingers in and just press in and just like that he’s biting into his arm, writhing under him and coming.  _Just from Kris touching them, gadamn!_   


 

“You… little…” Adam groans and gives up and just lays back because talking? That’s a lot more difficult than it should be.   


 

Kris giggles and falls onto the mattress beside him, grinning like the Cheshire cat and looking entirely too proud of himself. Well, going to have to fix that.   


 

Unfortunately, this whole connection thing doesn’t work out too well, because when he goes to pin Kris down to the bed Kris is already grabbing at his wrists and grinding up against his - still sensitive and regaining interest - cock. Kris smirks when Adam melts against him and leans up to nip at his lips slightly, muttering something about freckles and -  _ohhhh_ …   


 

Adam shudders as Kris rocks up, stroking along the wing at the same time. “Y-you are… unh… so, very… ouhmmm… very, very cruel and teasing and - oh!”   


 

Kris giggles. “Puh-lease. You knew I wasn’t completely innocent long ago, Lambert. Don’t act like you’re just now realizing this.”   


 

Adam was about to send some of that snark back his way but Kris seemed to decide that that moment was perfect to coil his leg around Adam’s hips and bring their lengths together through their boxers and rock back and forth, one of his hands coiled around his wing and the other rubbing along the ridge around it.   


 

Moments later, Adam’s wings curl in, wrapping around Kris’ arms and essentially pinning them to his sides as he bucks and cums - again - with Kris following closely behind.   


 

“Errrgh…” Adam manages to gasp out. It’s amazing he can even get that. Kris bursts out laughing and pushes him up, settling him carefully against the head board before padding happily toward the bathroom for a fresh wash cloth to clean them up. When he finally gets his motor skills most of the way back Adam plucks sadly at his soaked boxers and pouts at Kris. “That was unfair. Why didn’t you ever tell me it felt like that?”   


 

Kris shrugs and strips off the soaked garment, licking his lips and staring for a moment before he chuckles and wipes him off. “They’re not that sensitive for me.” He flings his boxers off and cleans himself up before padding over to their dresser to get out a fresh pair. “It might just be because they’re new or…” He grins, in a completely evil and foreboding way that makes Adam’s stomach clench - with something totally not akin to… oh who is he kidding, it turns him on like crazy. “Maybe you’re just sensitive there.”   


 

Adam grumbled and snatched the fresh set of boxers away, pulling them on before going into his closet for a pair of jeans and a belt. He glanced over all of his vests and shirts; he’d have to fix them up for those wings… not to mention the jackets. He shuddered at the thought of it, then pulled out a well-worn, loose pair, looping a belt through because if they really are going to be soaring in the air and stuff the last thing he wants is his jeans slipping off.   


 

He hears Kris snort, then thunks his head against the wall. “Mother fucker.”   


 

Kris bursts out laughing and Adam’s pretty sure he just heard him fall over, if the following “Ow!” has anything to do with it. Serves him right.   


 

Adam’s still grinning despite it.   
  


 

Whenever he thought back on the tour that Kris wasn’t graceful if only for the times he’s stumbled and seemed to trip over his own feet, right now destroys any trace of that. He’s perched on the balcony, almost looking like a gargoyle statue - only prettier and just utterly, destructively beautiful, carved into perfection, really - with his wings curved in and hands gripping the railing, the position marking a delicious curve in his bare back leading into his jeans. It’s still pretty dark, the sun creating a grayish-orange light behind the eastern peaks.   


 

Kris looks back at him then grins. “Glad to know I’m perfect.” He teases then lifts one of the wings and bat Adam in the shoulder as he glares then he goes back to being semi-serious. “Since this is all new for you-” Adam hears Kris thinking: Since you can’t move them without knocking something over and I don’t want you getting hurt. “-I’m just going to go up, show you, you know.” He smiles. “Just get the basic idea of it and stuff.”   


 

_Sure… Show off._   


 

Kris laughs, the sound ringing clear and loud in the empty landscape, then he’s stretching off the balcony and just before he’s about to fall - Adam’s in mid-reach for him - his wings open and cut through the air, propelling him into the sky. Adam stares up at him, watching him glide along the gray backdrop of the sky.   


 

He lets out a laugh, seeing Kris shooting him a goofy grin and thumbs up as he’s circling back. It’s crazy still but amazing and he’s definitely not going to complain - if he thought Kris was beautiful before sprawled across the sheets like that he was even more so now, gliding through the air smiling, hair ruffling with the wind, arms stretched out like he used to in the backyard, reaching for the clouds above his head.   


 

Kris settles back on the balcony rail, grabbing onto it and swinging down to plant himself into Adam’s chest. “Hmm.” Kris hums, wings stretching out for a moment before wrapping around himself to Adam’s hips. “It’s so amazing, you’ll love it.”   


 

Adam chuckles; Kris’ been smiling and happy ever since this had happened, and he’s starting to think maybe it’s not just because there’s that instant proof that he’s not alone, but there’s also that he’s sharing all of this with Adam.   


 

There’s that, and there’s just… it feels like everything’s locked into place and it’s finally right.   


 

Adam smiles against Kris’ skin, pressing a kiss to his neck. It’s the same thing that’s telling me everything’s going to work out alright.   


 

There’s something inside him that’s making him feel exactly the same.   


 

  
“Yeah, mom, everything’s… fine, just…” Adam pauses for a moment. “There’s something I need to tell you but it’s not something I can do over the phone.”   


 

Leila’s quiet for a moment on the other line before she speaks up. “Well, alright. Do you want us to come to you or will you be able to get here?”   


 

_Hmm, probably be safer here…_ “I can send someone to pick you and dad up. I’d like to have Neil here, too.”   


 

She hesitates again before starting again, quieter. “Is there something going on with Kris?”   


 

He knew she’d known about the relationship with Kris, that was one of the first things they did after it was starting to look more serious. Both of their parents were more than supportive about it - though when Kim found out about the wings and exactly how dangerous that was for him, he thinks anyone in on that conversation wouldn’t be getting through it without at least some heartbreak. He smiles slightly. “No, it’s nothing like that.”   


 

He can practically hear the relief through the phone. “Oh, okay. Well, whenever you’re ready we’ll be there for whatever it is.”   


 

Adam smiles. “Thanks mom.” He glances back at the hallway leading to their bedroom to see Kris leaning against the wall, watching him, this odd look in his eyes. “Uhm, I gotta go, so I’ll be seeing you soon.”   


 

They said their goodbyes and Adam disconnects before turning to face Kris all the way. Kris pushes off of the wall, walking toward him with slow, lazy strides, then coils his arms around Adam’s waist, leaning high up on his toes to press his lips against the curve of his wing. Adam shudders, then presses deep to Kris’ back until he looks up.   


 

Kris stares up at him for a bit until he sighs and meshes their mouths together. “I’ve just been thinking… when Katy comes here and Cale… and all our other friends.” He frowns. “I know… atleast, I’m pretty sure… Our family isn’t going to care but…”   


 

Adam gets another flash of an image in his mind; Katy staring at him - Kris, he realizes - looking fearful and… disgusted, almost. Adam’s hands clench around Kris’ waist and he shakes his head. “If anyone doesn’t accept it, then they’re just not part of our life. They don’t deserve to be a part of our lives.”   


 

Kris nods slowly, pressing several kisses along his collar bone before nodding again and looking back up at him. “Right. Okay. I know, just…”   


 

“You’re still worried about it, I get that.”   


 

Kris stares at up him then coils his arms around Adam’s neck and, reeling him in as he’s pushing onto his tiptoes, he melds their mouths together tightly.   


 

“Thank you…” He murmurs before lifting himself up and Adam knows immediately to curl his hands around to brace Kris as he wraps his legs around Adam’s waist. Adam smiles against Kris’ lips as Kris pushes past an image of their bedroom, the sheets ruffled from certain… activities. Activities he was more than happy to participate in. Right now.   


 

Kris’ hum of appreciation when he falls back on the bed, black spread out across the red and his hands stretching out for the white stretching out above them tells him Kris agrees whole-heartedly.

 

 


	14. You Say It's Getting Old And I Should Make A Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam comes out to his family about the wings.

 

 

 

Adam takes a deep breath, dropping the shirt and sewing needle back to the table to shake his hands out. He’s trembling, he can even feel the wings behind him shivering. He knows that everything is going to go well with his family but… it’s still nerve wracking.

“Adam?” He looks up to see Kris peering into the room, then frowning. “Hey…” Kris walks in, settling in the seat beside him and curling an arm around Adam, pulling him in and curling a black wing around him. “It’s gonna be okay, you know.” He presses his lips against Adam’s temple, bringing his hand up to stroke along Adam’s white, freckled feathers until they stop shuddering. “There…” Kris grins at him, reaching up to press a kiss to the corner of his lips, making them tilt upward a bit despite the remains of nervousness in him. “Better?”

Adam nods, sighing as he looks down at the gray shirt, then scowls. “There has to be an easier way to wear something around these.”

Kris is quiet for a bit and then he chuckles. “There’s always corsets. A lot of them don’t cover the back there and you seem rather fond of them.”

Adam rolls his eyes, elbowing Kris playfully before picking up the material again and resuming hemming the area he’d cut out earlier.

The younger man just giggles and stands up, pressing his lips to Adam’s head before going off to get dressed. A few moments later - when he’s finally fixed the shirt enough to where the stitching wont come undone and his wings can fit through without ripping anything out - Kris pads back in wearing one of his plaid shirts the back fixed just like the low v-neck he was wearing and he grins. “Maybe after we get everything settled with our friends and family and the label we should see about getting out some clothes that we can wear without having to fix them up ourselves.”

Kris pauses, his coffee mug halfway to his lips before he lowers it again. “You mean like a clothing line?” When Adam nods he snorts. “Figures you’d take this whole wing situation and think clothes.”

“Hey.” Adam grins, gathering up the left over scraps of cloth and string and dumping it into the scrap box he’d been making since the first time he fixed up Kris’ shirt. “You know it’d be good. I know it's just as annoying for you as it is for me.”

Kris pauses then nods. “Right.” He glances up to the clock. “Well, it’s something we can figure out after. Since the car should be coming around in about five minutes.”  
 _  
Shit._ Adam breathes out and nods. “Okay.” He runs a hand through his hair and glances back at the wings - he can finally stretch them out fairly well without knocking anything within the vicinity over. “Do they look okay?”

Kris rolls his eyes again and reaches out to smooth the feathers down on one side. “They look perfect.” He tilts his head up and smiles prettily, stealing Adam’s breath for a bit. “Just like you.” He reaches up onto his toes and presses his lips against Adam’s.

A few seconds into the kiss Kris’ phone buzzes against Adam’s hip through their jeans and he backs away as he pulls it out, then takes a breath. “Okay, they’re here.” He straightens out his shirt and grabs Adam’s hand before pulling him through to the living room. He glances back at Adam, and catches his panicked expression before opening the door. “It’s going to be alright, just remember.” He pauses for a moment. “If you want you can go hide in the back while I explain everything and come out when you're ready?”

Adam hesitates, then shakes his head. “No…” The door bell buzzes and he reaches for the handle like it’s going to disappear if he doesn’t, the faster that he just opens it and sees them the easier. Kris grabs his hand before he can open it and looks up at him - _Calm down, I’m here for you, calm down_ \- before moving out of the way as he opens the door.

Adam’s wings unfold and then shudder back as he hears his mom half-gasp, half-sob before face planting into his chest and just squeezing. He swallows and wraps his arms around her, letting his own tears tumble down his cheeks unchecked before squeezing his eyes shut.

 _  
It’s weird… how they can… sense different touches, almost._ Adam watches as Leila places her hand against the feathers - long after they’d all calmed down and made their way into the living room - before patting them back down. He looks over at his father, Eber sitting back against an opposite recliner just sort of staring but it’s not… bad, exactly. More shock than anything else. He moves his gaze further to Neil and sees him looking to the floor, brow furrowed in concentration. Adam swallows and looks back to his mom.

She reaches back a bit, toward his back then pulls her hand away and frowns a bit. “Did it… was it very…” She trails off and closes her mouth then looks over at Kris - leaning against the doorway separating the living room from the foyer.

He smiles and shakes his head. “It’s worse if we’re not together. I took care of him through it so it lessened how much it would hurt.”

She nods, then looks back and strokes the soft feathers again, seemingly satisfied. Adam smiles; she always didn’t seem to ask that many questions, mostly because she could read both her boys like open books.

Eber speaks up, looking at Kris now. “I’ve seen all those reports about those attacks that’ve happened.” He looks back at Adam. “That hasn’t happened for… for either of you, has it?”

Kris flinches slightly at that. “Just… one time.” He holds his hands up when all three tense up. “But since then it hasn’t, we’ve made sure to keep as safe as possible, stay with security, that sort of thing.”

There’s a pause, a beat of silence over the entire room, and then everyone - including Kris and Adam - seem to breathe again. “Well.” Eber smiles but then seems to double back on it a bit, though Adam can still see that slight curl - the one Kris says _Adam_ has when he’s trying desperately not to laugh or smile - and he grins. “As long as you’re safe and happy everything’s fine with me.”

Adam lets out a breath, then looks over to his brother, who’s been oddly quiet the entire time. Neil’s at least looking up at him now, though his brows still creased in concentration. “What about the label?” He looks back at Kris. “And the press and everything.” He holds his hands up quickly when Adam shrinks back a bit. “I have no problem with it, at all, seriously. Just… wondering.”

Adam considers him for a moment then shrugs. “We’ll do the same thing we did with Kris.” He gets a chill through the wings suddenly, sending it all the way through to his spine and making him shiver. He tucks them in a bit, curving the edges around his shoulders - he takes a second to be proud that he’s getting so much control over them so quickly. “People can think how they want. It’s not something they can change.” He tilts his shoulders up again and leans back into the sofa - he sees Kris flinch a bit; he sends a reassuring smile back his way, they don’t exactly hurt anymore, it’s more of a buzzing feeling beneath the skin that occasionally makes itself noticed. “Kinda like when I came out only not as… you know, obvious.” He pauses and grins. “Well, you know what I mean.”

There’s a beat and then Neil and Kris groan in unison. “Please tell me this won’t involve another Rolling Stone thing?”

Kris is tucking his wings as far behind his back as possible and he’s already sending a glare Adam’s way at the thoughts of a certain magazine cover with not only Adam, but a certain ebony-winged brunette, too. Adam grins. “Maybe.”

Either way, he notices that the chill and tension in his wings is gone, like the tension and awkwardness in the room just melted away.

He hears Kris’ snark in his head. _I told you everything would be alright. Worrying yourself for nothing, dummy._

Adam watches with delight as Kris shrugs his wings back even further, his face turning red and his hands instinctively reaching to cover himself up when he sends another image, this time with the both of them very much naked with only walls of black and white feathers to cover their bits.

He makes sure to file that lovely image for later viewing, too.

  
“Now, as perfect as that went, I am so glad it’s over.” Adam grins; he knows exactly why Kris is so relieved they’re alone again. Kris glares over at him.

 _You’re a dirty rotten tease._

 _You love it._ Adam smirks, stepping forward to bracket Kris between his hands and legs, but Kris reaches up a hand to stroke along the feathers and send a bolt of electric, burning pleasure strong enough to make his knees buckle, the only thing stopping him from slipping to the floor completely is his grip on the door.

“Nnn- _fuck_.”

Kris giggles. “Oh, this is great.” Adam looks up and swallows; he never imagined Kris could look so sinister and - well, he always knew Kris was sexy but still, da- _urghnnnmmmm_ …

A single calloused pad glides over the inside of the arch, pushing in and forcing the wing to unfold. Kris hums and flattens out his entire palm in the area before curling his fingers and lightly digging his nails in.

Adam almost screams.

“You’re still all sensitive.” Kris sounds awed, and then it turns into a mischievous giggle before he drags his nails down, making Adam buck against him. “Maybe even more than before.”

“F-fuck… K-Kri- _oooh_ ….” Adam swallows, his head lolling back, his wings vibrating under Kris’ touch. Waiting for the next- “ _Oh_!”

Kris grins, curling his hand just a bit tighter around the down and muscle that shapes around the outer-curve of the wing where the joint is. He resumes stroking his hand up and down like that, pulling it in and out, in and out…

Suddenly it stops and Adam blinks; his knees are aching a bit, and he realizes he’d been rocking back and forth on the carpet - kneeling on it. He glances down to recollect himself and swallows mouthfuls air but before he can recover fully Kris is kneeling in front of him, textured fingers cupping his jaw, and chapped-but-sweet lips pressing so gently against his they almost felt like a whisper.

“Mmm…” Kris hums into his mouth, making him shiver. He feels his wings curl in, locking around Kris’, and gently pushing him back against the door as Adam deepens the kiss. He brings a hand up to glide along the black feathers, smiling against Kris' lips when he feels and hears Kris’ breath hitch.

Adam’s just moving his other hand and his  wings to pull Kris up and drag him back to the bedroom when he feels Kris’ phone vibrating on the inside of his thigh where he’s straddling him. He groans and releases Kris’ lips, dropping his head against the door.

Kris curses when he realizes why Adam’s lips aren’t on his anymore - he was actually staring straight at them, bottom lip jutting out, mumbling about how he misses them already - then scrambles at his pocket, rips the offending device out and growls into it. “What?”

He pauses for a moment, then his eyes widen and he drops his head back against the door. “Mother _f-_ _Fine_ , okay, gimme a sec, Lane.”

Adam draws back a bit. _Lane?_ “What’d she say?”

Kris brings the phone down and reaches another hand up to caress the white feathers in a soothing way. “She says she’s coming over.” Adam feels his eyes bulge, Kris continues. “She’s pissed that we haven’t contacted her and that you haven’t come in.” Adam hears Kris mumbling something about how it’ll not be the only thing she’s pissed about when she gets here, too. He swallows and grabs the phone out of Kris’ hand.

“Lane?”

“What the _fuck_ , Lambert? You have _any_ idea how worried I’ve been? I’ve been calling you for, like, weeks.” He’s thinking about mentioning that the last time they talked wasn’t actually that long ago, not even a week ago, really. But he really likes living and when Lane’s on a tirade she tends to exaggerate a lot so he keeps his mouth shut. “Where the hell have you been? Did you two just decide to fly off the planet, not tell anyone for kicks or-”

It all comes tumbling out of his mouth before he can stop himself. “You know how Kris got the wings and he disappeared off the map? Well, I figured my safest bet would be to do the same thing, I figured not saying anything about it and not leaving to where people with cameras and shit can see me with feathers sticking out my back would be best.”

Kris drops his head against his knee and groans, Lane starts cussing even more and Adam drops the phone like it’s on fire in case any more lovely tidbits spill out of his mouth.

  
Lane looks over him then sighs and starts tapping several different things on her phone. “I’ll set up interviews and a photo shoot.” She glances up at Adam. “Knowing you, we’ll need one.” She finishes dialing and looks between the two of them. “Who do you want to have the first pictures? Rolling Stone or…”

Adam shakes his head. “I’d kinda like to finish telling everyone that matters first before we get into the public eye.”

She pauses for a moment, opens her mouth to speak into the phone then sighs. “Call you right back.” She clicks the phone shut and glares.

Adam takes a breath. “I just need close friends now…” He looks over at Kris. “And we’ll get back to you on first dibs and the shoot.” He waves a hand. “Interviews for next week should be good.”

She nods then turns, her hand on the door as she whips back and points accusingly at Adam. “Keep. In. Contact.” She emphasizes each word with a stab in his chest and then she’s out the door and both Kris and Adam slump in relief.

There’s a beat, then Kris looks over at him and smirks. “Continue where we left off?”

Adam rolls his eyes, but swings down to grip Kris’ ass with both hands as Kris lifts himself up to wrap his legs around Adam’s waist, their wings gliding across each others skin until they tumble down together on the bed.

 

 

 


	15. We Are Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Kris and Adam's friends come over; Adam's first time flying.

 

 

 

“Holy shit this is awesome.”

Both Kris and Adam blink in unison and just sort of stare at Brad, who’s crossing the room to start fussing with Adam’s wings. Kris watches him reach out to touch and he has to stop himself from stretching across the way and slapping his hand away. It was one thing with Adam’s family touching them, something so intimate for them, but _this_?

“They’re soft, too.” Brad’s quieted down at least. Well, as quiet as Brad can be anyway. He pauses for a moment and draws his hand away from the feathers, Kris instantly relaxes. He still draws his smaller wing around Adam’s to block anyone else - Alli, Cale, Tommy, Monte, and Cassidy along with the three of them all squeezed into the living room - from deciding to touch his property. He feels Adam smile into his shoulder at the thought and turns his head to nip at Adam’s ear.

When Brad speaks up again, Kris almost misses the first part, having to back track in the conversation to catch it. And when he does he can almost feel the color leaving his face. “No.” He shakes his head when Brad grins. “All the photos and crap are Adam’s thing, not mine. I’m perfectly fine with what I have now.”

Allison sighs from across the room. “You know you’re going to be bullied into it eventually, Krissy.” She pauses for a moment and looks over at them and something soft comes across her features before shifting into teenage mischief. “Might as well be with Adam, right?”

He flushes at that, and thinks to the mock images Adam’s been pushing into his brain all day. It just seems like… sharing this new connection they have with the world seems wrong, like he’d be baring himself completely naked for all to see, and ripping down Adam’s barriers if he allowed it.

Adam bumps his head softly against Kris’ shoulder and moves his wing and arm around him, pulling him in. Kris’ head thumps against Adam’s chest and he sighs. “Fine.” He makes sure to sound as put upon as much as he can, if only just to bug Brad a bit.

Brad, who is now launching into a variety of ideas for the shoot while everyone throws in thoughts that make him blush. He doesn’t bother to glance up to see the teasing grins the others are no doubt shooting their way. Adam brushes his thumb against Kris’ ear, leaning down to kiss the tip of his ear and stroking his fingers through Kris' messy hair. He closes his eyes and lets the conversation dull, only thinking about the feel of feathers against his left side, fingers massaging into his scalp and the soft hum he can hear in his head that’s solely Adam’s voice.

  
“Okay. Yeah, that’s fine. Mmhmm.” Kris opens his eyes, blinking a bit. The room is now devoid of all their friends, Kris’ head's now settled in Adam’s lap, one white wing pressing gently against his stomach and fingers settled tangled in his hair. “Yep, Saturday’s good. Right.” Kris tilts his head up just enough to see Adam talking into his phone, smiling down at him.

 _‘Bout time._

Kris grins sleepily and turns his head to press a kiss to Adam’s knee.

After a moment passes in relative quiet - Adam just stroking his fingers through Kris’ hair, tickling the back of his ear, petting his side with a teasing, tickling touch of feathers as he talks - Kris lets out a yawn and sits up. Adam gives him a curious look and he just smiles sleepily. “Don’ wanna fall ‘sleep ‘gain.”

Adam chuckles softly then leans over to press a kiss to his cheek, continuing to talk. Kris gives him a curious look and Adam just shrugs. _Lane called, wanted to make sure we didn’t elope or something._

He rolls his eyes, then sits up and stretches, wings fluttering out a little bit. He catches the smirk Adam gives him then pads into the bathroom, grabbing a towel from the linen closet and waving it Adam’s way - as both an invitation and… well, okay, it’s _mostly_ an invitation - before stripping off his clothes and stepping under the spray.

When the water hits his wings he shudders; he still hasn’t gotten used to that odd, sort of prickling feeling of when his wings get wet. But then, Adam’s always there to straighten out the feathers where the pressure of the stream shifts them and to distract him with kisses and…

The shower curtain pulls open and there’s Adam, smirking at him, white tucked behind him perfectly. Kris grins. _Looks like they’ve healed up all the way, and properly, too._ He tugs Adam in, then chuckles as he shudders when the water hits him just as Kris did, then traces his fingers along the ridges, making Adam shudder for an entirely different reason. _Guess I’m going to have to show him that how to use them, soon._

Adam’s groaning stops and he beams. “Really?” The wings stretch out just a bit and he looks back. “That’s going to be so cool…” He looked back at Kris. “What else is there other than the whole flying thing?”

Kris shrugs. “Not much, as far as I know.” He presses gently against the white feathers, grinning when they automatically tuck back, then drags his hand down them as he drops to his knees. He licks his lips when Adam’s fingers dig into his hair just as he likes. _There’s much more important matters at the moment, anyway._

  
“So… About the talk with Lane.”

Kris hums against Adam’s thigh, tracing his fingers along the inside of a freckle-splashed knee. Adam wiggles a bit and Kris nips at his skin when his head’s unsettled from it’s very comfortable position.

Adam grins. “Sorry.” He brings a hand out from under his head and combs through Kris’ feathers, making him sort of melt into Adam. “We talked about the whole photo shoot thing and…”

Kris grumbles; he tries to make a more threatening sound but he’s the vaguely the consistency of jello so… “I’m not gonna do it with you.”

A huff. “I’d feel better if you did.”

This time Kris lifts his head up and gives Adam an odd look. “Dude. The pictures are, like, your thing. Aside from singing it’s what you’ve always done best.”

Adam blushes prettily - it’s rare, so that makes it all the more great in Kris’ eyes - and shifts his gaze away. His wings actually curl around to hide his face and Kris has to bat them away to move up into Adam’s lap so he can wrap his fingers around a hot, freckled jaw. “Hey…” Adam grunts, Kris squeezes his fingers a bit. “Look at me.”

Blue-gray eyes shift in his direction and a pretty freckled lip pouts. It’s not the playful kind of pout Adam usually has. It’s more like he’s… nervous. But he’s… he’s Adam, he has no reason to be nervous…

The white feathers twitch and Adam glances away. “I’m more… just, you know… I want to do it, get it out there officially, but I don’t… I _can’t_ do it alone.” Adam shakes his head and laughs roughly. “This is a million times scarier than coming out.”

Kris softens a bit and smiles, stroking his fingertips along Adam’s jaw line until he looks up again. “You have nothing to be afraid of.” When Adam gives him a bit of a skeptical look Kris leans back a bit, grinning. “There was a brilliant, beautiful, sexy guy who once told me that… who ever doesn’t accept me, doesn’t accept these-” He brings a hand up to pet along the feathers, catching the slight tremble in Adam’s body. “-they’re not worth my time.” He meets Adam’s eyes again. “They don’t matter, whatever they think, it’s just their idiocy, and bad values and morals and _everything_ ; it’s them, not you.” He stretches his wings forward now, too, black curling around white, then presses their foreheads together. “Whatever they think, it doesn’t matter. Because, to you, and to me, we’re right, just the way we are.”

He sees Adam’s lips curl into a huge smile before he feels them pressed against his.

 _  
This is actually kind of… peaceful…_

Adam opens his eyes, seeing the dark blue of the sky all around him, Kris gliding along right beside him. It was a precaution, just in case Adam started plummeting or something. He rotates his wings, seeing them churn forward before catching the air to propel him upward. It’s an amazing feeling, like weightlessness and… it’s almost like being high, weightless, carefree and just a deep centered peace.

He laughs, loud and free and echoing, tilting his right wing just a bit to start a slow, twirling circle. It’s easy like he didn’t think it would be, like as soon as his feet left the ground after Kris explained the mechanics - “It’s best just to not think about jumping off something, just into the air, and at that same time you want to rotate your shoulders, but imagine like your pushing something down with them, as hard as you can.” - that _this_ , hundreds of feet in the air, wind whipping his hair in smooth caresses; it’s second nature to singing. It’s _easy_.

Kris pushes forward ahead of him a bit, grinning, then ducks below Adam’s wingspan to grab onto his hand, then pull them back down toward the balcony. He hadn’t even realizes they were going up that high, it’s a slow, even descent, but it still feels like it takes hours.

When their feet do finally touch ground, it feels unreal. He has to laugh again, because he was just soaring through the air, gliding, wings pumping lazily to send him high enough to see all of LA, and his feet hitting the balcony floor is what seems unreal?

Kris tucks himself up behind Adam and grins, lips curling against the back of his neck. Adam remembers why Kris dragged him out in the first place, at that moment, anyway.

He turns and tucks Kris into his arms, kissing him long and hard, and still soft and lazily at the same time, before pulling away with a grin. “It did help, I feel so much better.” He grins and ducks in for another kiss that Kris is already leaning in for. He pauses for a moment then strokes a thumb along Kris’ jaw. “I still want you there with me.” He smirks against Adam’s skin. “I sort of want to make sure everyone in the world knows that you belong to me…” He digs the nails of his other hand into Kris’ thigh, making the younger man gasp and his wings tremble slightly. “And that you’ll always be mine…”

Kris swallows, then lets out a throaty growl before pushing Adam back onto the bed and pouncing.

 

 

 


	16. Untangle Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam - and Kris - at the photoshoot.

 

 

 

 

 

Katy’s supposed to be coming week after Adam ‘comes out’ to the press. And, Kris finds out rather abruptly on the phone, that’s now settled somewhere in the general direction of the couch, that her new guy - Mitchell or Michael or something - is tagging along with her.

 

It’s not that Kris isn’t happy for her, it’s just… he doesn’t want to see him, he doesn’t care to meet him, he doesn’t really want anything to do with him.

 

Kris rubs his hand roughly against his face and groans; he’s not the jealous type - well, he wasn’t when he was with Katy but ever since Adam and this sixth sense the wings gave him… yeah, lots of jealousy, but that’s entirely different. He falls onto the floor, stretching out on his stomach and settling a throw pillow underneath him. His wings stretch out as much as they can above him and he lots out a sigh. He has no idea why he feels like this but he just… does.

 

 

“Kris?” The door to the studio opens and Adam pops his head out. “You okay baby? I heard some banging earlier.”

 

Kris lets out a breath, letting his shoulders roll out and the tension dissolve before he speaks up. “Just… talked with Katy and she’s bringing _him_ with her.”

 

He doesn’t hear anything for a while. He thinks that Adam went back into the studio until he feels someone straddling his lower back and familiar hands coming down on his shoulders to work around the wings, pushing the remaining tension out of his muscles.

 

He huffs out a sigh into the pillow, letting his eyes slip shut and just concentrating on Adam’s hands. After a few moments of silence he hears Adam, voice soft. “He is a part of her life now, Kris.” He leans down, pressing a kiss to Kris’ ear. “It’s just…” He pauses for a moment then shifts his touch up a bit, to the ridges where the wings meet his back. Kris moans and arches up when Adam presses in. “You have to look at it like you’re her friend, not her husband.”

 

Kris huffs again then wiggles under Adam’s touch and flattens his wings to the floor. Adam takes it as the surrender it is and leans forward to press at kiss into Kris’ hair, stroking the wings lovingly.

 

“You know, it’s not fair when you do that while we’re discussing; you know what it does.”

 

Adam just pats his feathers and licks at his neck, sending another thrill down Kris’ spine. “I know, you love it, though.”

 

Yeah, he does.

 

Kris grins as he looks into the mirror; he’s wearing a shimmery-black button-up with the sleeves rolled up, a black vest and skinny black tie, his black, gleaming wings framing it all. He has messy eyeliner rings around his eyes, his hair an organized mess like usual.

 

Kris laughs lightly. He’d thought the photo shoot would be more intimate, more stripped down. It was more of the reason he was afraid; he didn’t want to share that bond he and Adam have, and he never wants to. This, though? This he can handle, he’s done them for long enough now it’s routine; the only thing he still has is that little flair of self consciousness for the cameras, the need to hide from them or fidget.

 

He hears a tsk from behind him and glances into the mirror to see Adam. He grins; Adam looks amazing, glittering and white and silver. He has lines of silver make up swirling from his left eye that Kris realizes - with a laugh - are feathers, and the grayish-black eyeliner around his eyes seems to change color with the lighting and angles. It’s beautiful, making the ‘freckles’ on his wings stand out.

 

Adam strides forward and curls his arms around Kris’ neck, trailing a finger lovingly along Kris’ cheek. “I’d think by now you’d be over all your camera shy, babe.” He presses his lips to Kris’ temple, tilting his head and making the eyeliner shimmer a gray-blue. He pauses for a moment, coral lips curling against Kris’ skin and reflecting back at them. He lifts his fingers up from Kris’ cheek bone, tracing just along his eyes and smudging the black around them. “You have guy liner.”

 

Kris rolls his eyes, and he’s about to elbow Adam in the stomach when one of the assistants for the shoot pokes her head in and calls Kris in. He sighs and glares at Adam in the mirror, then lifts up to do his own part of the shoot before they do the both of them together.

 

He takes a deep breath as he settles on the marker, willing his wings to behave, and bathes in the flood of flashing lights.

 

 

Adam watches as they call for Kris, and he stares as Kris crosses his arms across his stomach, sticking them into the pockets of the dark jeans, ringed eyes giving a glare to the camera first that almost makes Adam want to break it. Then turning his head away shyly and smiling lightly, brown eyes flicking up to Adam.

 

His heart thuds in his chest and his wings spread out until they knock into someone and he hears Lane yelp. Kris bursts out laughing and Adam has to dodge her swinging hand.

 

They both share a goofy grin before Kris’ attention is called back. He goes back to giving cute-but-smoldering glares to the camera, smirking in that way Adam remembers from Idol days when he was planning a prank, limbs and wings going as they’re directed.

 

After several minutes they call Adam up, and he coils his hands around Kris’ waist automatically as he settles behind him, nipping at his ear. _Looks like someone was hyping themselves up a bit too much, huh?_

 

 

Kris just grins and tilts his head back, wings spreading out and bumping against Adam’s biceps. They watch each other for a moment before Kris leans up to press a quick kiss to Adam’s mouth. He feels Kris’ lips curled against his, perfect and sweet and he leans forward for another just as their attention is called. He pauses for a beat then smashes their mouths together, quick and devastating, then looks back up and smirks at the looks of awe - and the eye roll from Lane. Kris elbows him gently and snuggles back into him. _You’re so bad._

 

Adam chuckles lightly, then moves a hand gently over Kris’ stomach, tucking into his front pocket, leaning into his neck, his wings fanning out behind him as Kris curls his in around their arms and leans back into him. _You love it._

 

Kris automatically smiles, the flashing of the cameras not stopping as he tilts his head up and gazes at Adam with all the love in the world. _I do._

 

Everything else falls away when he feels the soft, sweet brush of lips against his, turning into a full kiss that leaves them both breathless.

 

They both start when someone calls them out of their own little bubble. They share quick, mischievous grins, before falling back into place with one another.

 

 

Adam sits on the couch, grinning at the interview in the magazine, one wing curled around Kris’ back as he lounges into Adam’s side, glancing over it with the same smile. The picture of the both of them to the side of it makes his lips curl more; it must’ve been just seconds before that kiss, the way they’re staring at each other with admiration and love and all things making his heart flutter.

 

Kris makes a soft sound, then chuckles lightly and traces the picture. “They fit together pretty well.” His fingers move along the wings on the page, the white contrasting with the black and blending together perfectly. It doesn’t look like a black and white picture, or an evil versus good, like he thought it might. Instead they seem to blend into each other, the colors only serving as a way to separate where one begins and the other ends.

 

Adam smiles, turning his head to press a kiss into Kris’ hair. “We fit together pretty well.”

 

Brown eyes look up at him, shining brighter-than-bright, before Kris pushes the magazine out of his hands and kisses him whisper-soft, lips sugary-sweet, and the emotion behind it making his heart pound until he’s sure it flat lines. With a small noise he curls his hands around Kris’ thighs, shifting around until Kris’ is under him, and presses into him until they can’t find where one of them ends and the other begins.


	17. Tell Me Something Sweet To Get Me By

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam wakes from an awful dream; there’s an incident in the studio that leaves Adam shaken and Kris comforts him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait between updates. :/ The next one hopefully won't take three months.

Adam winces, crying out as his back hits the wall. One of his wings is pinned against the brick, curling wrong and numb in a way that makes him nervous. When he tries to move it, it sends another spark of pain through his entire back, almost making his legs fall out from underneath him.

 

He hears someone coming down the alley, but there’s already a hand curled in the white feathers of his healthy wing, too tight and feeling like they’re curled around his nerves, fingers dug underneath his skin and the thought that those hands are touching him makes him gag before his breath is ripped out of him when the hand pulls away. It hurts, like… nothing he can describe. It’s enough to make him fall, but his wing is still pinned up to the wall. He feels sick when he sees blots of red on the ground, and his vision blurs the next handful they rip out.

 

Just as Adam’s passing out, the person running through the alleyway makes it to them, and yells out his name.

 

“Adam!”

 

Adam jumps as he feels a touch brush across his wing. His eyes fly open and he leaps away, thinking he’s getting away from the wall, from the dirty hands tearing his wings apart, but instead he finds himself falling out of the bed onto the floor. Kris peers over with his mouth hanging open, looking part amused and worried.

 

“Um…”

 

 _Oh, right. It was a nightmare._

 

He untangles his ankles from the sheets they’re still wrapped up in, pulling his wing out from under the pillow, then sits up, ruffling his hair a bit. “I… guess I just had a bit of a bad dream.”

 

Kris scoffs. “Yeah, that’s an understatement, I’d say.” He frowns. “What was it?”

 

He feels the heat drain from his face and shakes his head; he doesn’t want Kris to know about it. He remembers the connection and tries to imagine pulling walls up around his mind, hoping it works. He would try to stop thinking about it but… it just seemed real, like he was actually there in that alley and…

 

His wing twitches inward and bats against his shoulder. He hears Kris click his tongue, then he sighs. “Okay, if you don’t want me to know…” Adam looks back at him, watching Kris raise his hands up and shrug. “Just… whenever you want to you can talk to me, alright?”

 

Kris gets out of the bed, curling his fingers into Adam’s hair. It feels amazing; countering the phantom buzzing feeling in his wings from the dream. He whines and leans into it, nodding against Kris’ thigh. When Kris tries to pull away he curls one of his wings around his calve. “Please just… stay, for a bit…” He snuggles in, pressing firmly against Kris’ leg. He realizes this is probably something… odd for Kris, considering Adam wouldn’t normally act like this…

 

It’s nice, though. Well, maybe not the on-his-knees thing but just… like this…

 

He frowns. Maybe he doesn’t need to put up a wall after all, his thoughts are jumbled enough without that. But then if Kris sees…

 

“Adam?”

 

He flinches.

 

“Adam, look at me.”

 

He slaps the walls back up and looks sheepishly up at Kris. He looks a bit whiter than usual, his wings dipped down and shaking a bit. _Fuck…_

 

Adam stands up, gasping and catching Kris when he sways then settles them both on the bed. Kris swallows and shakes his head closing his eyes briefly before staring him down.

 

“That was it, wasn’t it?”

 

The walls tremble a little bit and he feels Kris push against them. But instead of trying to get through them to see inside he gets a brief flicker of an image from him; of Adam pinned on the wall and…

 

He sucks in a quick breath and nods. Kris grimaces then growls and shakes his head, hands curling into fists against his leg. He seethes for a few seconds before drawing in a huge breath, wings settling back and curling up to Adam. “You don’t have to be afraid of anything like that.” I won’t let anything like that happen.

 

Adam smiles, curling one of his white wings around Kris, black feathers mixing with white and gold freckles. It won’t happen, we’ll be alright. He closes his eyes, clinging onto Kris for a few moments and finally letting him go.

 

Adam draws in a breath, letting it out and watching as it swirled into fog against the mirror. He squeezes his eyes shut, gripping the sink tight enough he can hear it creaking against the counter.

 

“Adam?” He jumps, spinning around toward the door, ready to yell or punch or whatever he had to, he just didn’t want him anywhere near him.

 

He lets out a breath when he sees Kris, stepping cautiously toward him. “What happened? Lane just came running in, saying you just started freaking out.”

 

Adam swallows and shakes his head. “I…” He rubs a hand roughly over his face, smudging his makeup, not caring. “Fuck, I just… I panicked…” He draws in a breath when he sees Kris’ confused face. “There was a new guy in the studio today, and when we all took a break he came over to talk to me…” Adam wraps his arms around his torso, following after with his wings. He sees Kris’ eyes flicker down to the left one and Adam’ eyes follow even though he already knows what’s there. There’s a patch of feathers missing, the skin red and raw, the man’s handprint still there.

 

When Kris speaks again his voice is strained, and when Adam looks up his jaw is set in that way it always is when he’s really pissed off, a muscle twitching, pouty lips drawn into a harsh line. “Did he do that?”

 

Adam stares for a moment, then nods. Kris lets out a breath like it was punched out of him, then spins on his heel to walk out. “W-where are you going?”

 

Kris tenses and stops, staring down at the floor for a moment before Adam notices how his wings are trembling. “I’m going to break his fucking hand.”

 

Adam looks back at Kris’ wings, then he can see… that same hand that ripped away the feathers from his wings grabbing onto Kris’ tearing and pulling. “No! Wait, please.” He grabs onto Kris, holding him close, shaking his head. “Please…”

 

Kris pauses, then Adam feels him shifting around mumbling something, and finally getting his phone out and sending off a text to someone. Once he’s done, he pushes his phone back into his pocket, curling around Adam – wings and all – and pressing kisses to his chest. “It’s okay, he’s taken care of.” _If he ever comes near here again he’ll be dead._

 

Adam swallows, but he falls into Kris, letting the warmth of the black around him distract him from the pain radiating from his left side, the way it still burns with that man’s hand.

 

He winces when Kris’ hand folds over the spot, then relaxes; it feels like he’s sucking the pain out, replacing the burn of the hateful touch with his loving caresses. Adam closes his eyes, and lets Kris take care of him; everything outside of his Kris cocoon doesn’t matter. All that does is Kris soothing voice in his ear and breath washing over his skin, the caring brushes of his hands over Adam’s wings, and the tickle of feathers around his neck. _Nothing else matters._ He sighs. _This… I’m safe here…_


	18. Here We Rest In Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katy visits the boys with her new boyfriend, but he’s not all he seems to be, and one of the boys are in danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from Anywhere But Here by Sick Puppies.

 

 

Kris’ stomach feels twisted up into knots, and he ccan feel – and see the occasional times he catches himself in the mirror – the black feathers behind him buzzing with his nerves. Katy and… Micah, are going to be there today, and the last time he saw Katy…

 

He shudders, going all the way through his wings to the very tips, where they vibrate against something very much solid.

 

“Kris?” Adam’s hands close around the black feathers, stroking down as he move in between them and right up against Kris’ back. “Kris, it’s gonna be okay… There’s no need to be nervous.” When Kris’ shaking doesn’t stop, Adam sighs, brings his arms down to wrap around Kris’ waist and hug him, his wings brushing along his thighs. “Babe, come on. Just calm down, breathe…”

 

Kris breathes, trying for long, deep gulps of air, but he still feels unnerved for some reason. He rolls his eyes at himself; he has plenty of reasons to be nervous, what's he thinking.

 

When Kris doesn’t seem to stop shaking Adam sighs, stroking his wings lovingly for a moment before he pulls away. “Come on, how about a bit of flying. Maybe it’ll help you unwind.”

 

 _I’m not leaving you here alone…_ He feels every muscle clench just at the thought of Adam being left alone with them. He can’t really explain why, though. Thankfully, when he starts toward the back balcony, Adam's following him, his ivory wings stretching out as well as they can in the hall. He gets a wide, freckled smile, and Adam’s hand around his, before they're both up in the sky, the wind whipping around them and the sound of their combined wing-beats almost calming.

 

He’s almost gotten to a normal state of breathing and all of his muscles to relax finally when his phone buzzes in his pocket, and everything he’d pushed out of his mind comes rushing back. He waivers in the air, falling a few feet before Adam catches up with him and holds him, frowning against his neck as he carries the both of them back.

 

 _What’s wrong with me?_ Kris grimaces at himself as Adam settles him gently back on his feet. _It’s just Katy, the Katy you’ve known for pretty much all of your life, you don’t freak out about Katy. And she already apologized for what happened before… it’s not going to happen again, just calm the hell down!_

 

Taking a huge mouthful of air, Kris settles on the bed and fingers out chords onto his leg, Adam taking the phone out of his pocket to peek at the text. “It’s Katy.” He mutters, glancing up at Kris. “She says they’re almost here.”

 

 _Oh shit._ Kris shakes himself and flutters his wings a few times, trying to shake out all the nerves. _You’re good, you’re good._ Taking one last deep breath, Kris nods and stands up, following Adam down when they hear the mechanics of the security gate working to open. Kris counts off the seconds in his head, his wings wrapping around his waist protectively, stroking down the feathers that got loose in their flight while Adam just stands calmly by his side. _He’s… he’s being strong for me…_ Kris’ heart swells for the quick second they have, then someone is knocking on the door. Adam lets out a breath, like he'd been holding it in the entire time they were waiting, and opens the door.

 

It's the beginning, before all hell breaks loose.  
  


 

Katy smiles when she first sees Kris, albeit it's strained, but still… It's better than the last time he saw her. Kris swallows, standing still as he holds the door open and watches her. He… he doesn’t really know what to do.

 

Thankfully, Adam's there. “Hey Katy.” He smiles and leans down, hugging her lightly, giving her a little squeeze at the end like Kris had seen him do so many other times before. She's smiling right back at him, thankfully.

 

“Adam.” She pulls back a little and looks over him, her eyes stopping for a moment over his wings but the soft smile on her face doesn't fade. “You look good.”

 

Adam shrugs, then tugs Kris off of the door with an arm around his waist. “I have Kris to thank for that.”

 

Her smile falters for a moment when she drops her gaze to Kris, but it wasn’t… it wasn’t the look he’d been expecting, instead she looked guilty. “I… I’m sorry Kris… For… how I acted the last time we saw each other.” She steps forward and pulls him into her arms, squeezing him tight. “I just… I didn’t know how to react. I’m sorry…”

 

Kris blinks for a moment, before he wraps his arms around her and hugs her lightly. She doesn’t feel quite right in his arms anymore, like he thought she did before. He frowns; it's weird to have something not feel right with Katy…

 

He looks up when he hears someone else walking up, and… his wings twitch, an itch starting between the ridges when he sees him. He's roughly Kris’ height, maybe a few inches taller, and has messy brown hair and brown-hazel eyes and tan skin. He looks innocent enough, but there's something… something is off.

 

The man smiles when he gets close enough, tucking Katy under his arm as he grins at them. “You must be Kris.” The smile turns into a smirk and he holds a hand out. “Micah, so nice to finally meet you.”

 

Despite the buzzing under his skin, Kris starts to reach out, but suddenly Adam’s hand is there, grabbing Kris’, a pleasant smile on his face that's just slightly off. “Pleasure.” He tucks his wings in, and Kris notices he's hiding the bare spot where some feathers were ripped out by the man in the studio behind him. _What’s going on?_ Adam backs up a few steps despite the other’s confusion, and gestures for the couple to go into the living room. “Why don’t you two go and sit, I want to have a word with Kris.”

 

_What’s going on? Adam?_

 

Kris feels even more confused when he just hits a barrier in Adam’s mind, the connection between them cut off for the moment. Adam waits until the other couple disappears into the living room, keeping his eyes on Micah the entire time, his wings shaking just slightly enough for Kris to notice.

 

“Adam?”

 

“Shh.” Adam tugs him back toward the bedroom, strides seeming to get more stuttered the further they got. The twisting feeling in his gut and the itches between his wings get worse, his own nerves coming back full force and for an entirely different reason.

 

Adam finally turns them around, pushing the door shut behind Kris and tugging them a little closer to the balcony before he speaks. “I don’t like this… There’s something about that guy that’s…” He shakes his head and glances down at Kris. “Do you feel it? Like there’s something…”

 

Before Adam finishes Kris is nodding; he can’t explain what but there is something he doesn’t like about the man. It feels almost like back that first day he left the house after finding Adam again, the people gathered around him and tugging at his wings. It is different somehow though, he just couldn’t…

 

“Kris?” His wings buzzes at the knock on the door, straightening and folding around him anxiously. “Katy sent me back here to check on you. You guys alright?”

 

Kris shakes his head and looks up at Adam. _But… but if he wanted… wouldn’t he have already…?_ He knows his thoughts are jumbled, but thankfully Adam seems to understand.

 

 _I.. I don’t know._ He brushes a hand through his hair and grimaces. Then glances up to the door. “Yeah, we’re… we’re alright. Be right out!” He waits a moment then looks back down to Kris. _What do you want to do?_

 

 _I…_ Kris chews on his lips for a second, feeling lost and… He lets out a breath, shuddering out his anxiety and nods. “Okay… okay, we’ll go out there and just… have an escape plan, in case.”

 

Adam nods then motions to the door and then to the balcony. “Leave the door open to a straight shot out just in case.” When Kris nods Adam’s face scrunches up. _But… why?_

 

Kris lets out a breath. _Only one way to find out…_ He laces his hand tightly with Adam’s and walks out with him, making sure to prop the door open and checking to see that they have a clear path before following Adam out to the main room, where Katy is fidgeting and looking a mix of guilty and anxious, and Micah… Kris feels his wings shudder again and he grits his teeth. _What the hell is it about this guy?_

 

“Sorry just had to talk with Kris about something.” Adam smiles and waves off Katy’s nervous look. “A personal matter.” He squeezes Kris’ arm, pulling him close, wing coming around him protectively.

 

“Oh.” Katy nods, looking between the two of them before her eyes settle on Kris and she bites her lip lightly. “Are you sure you’re alright with this, Kris? You seem a bit… nervous.”

 

Kris nods, trying to just keep looking at Katy, to ignore that presence in the room that seems to be suffocating to him, almost, like his wings are bound and he's not getting enough oxygen to try and fight against it. “No, I’m… I’m fine.” He tries to put on his most convincing smile. “Really.”

 

The room goes quiet for a few moments, getting increasingly more awkward, until Katy clears her throat and speaks again, looking at Adam this time. “Do you think maybe I could talk to Kris alone, for just a bit?”

 

Adam shrugs. “Sure.” He gets up, blue eyes watching Micah as he stands up and walks lazily down the hall. Kris grips Adam’s wing for a moment before he lets his hand trail away, sending him a warning to keep an eye on the man and to stay safe before he disappears down the hall.

 

Kris sucks down a deep breath, to try and center himself and calm down, and looks up to Katy. “So, um, what do you want to talk about?”

 

Katy smiles softly. “I missed you.” She blurts, then drops her eyes to her hands, which were laying in her lap plucking at her jeans. “I’m… I regret what I did, how I reacted, so much but…” She shrugs and looks back up at him, her eyes shimmering a little bit. “I think maybe we weren’t meant to be in the first place, and I think… I sort of realized it then… a little bit.” She shrugs, and Kris stands up as she drops her gaze back to her hands. “And I think that’s the reason why I… I acted that way.”

 

Katy’s voice cracks, and that seems to be the last little crack in the dam before the flood, because in the next moment she's sobbing, curling into Kris when he sits down next to her. She doesn’t tense at all when he moves an arm and a wing around her – and does that ever feel weird, as soon as the feathers slip along her back, that instant feeling of alien and wrong, with Kate.

 

They just sit there in relative silence for a few moments, Kris trying to soothe her as best he can, when something breaks down the hall, and Adam screams.

 

  
Adam isn’t answering him, and it… it feels like their connection is… damaged if not completely gone. Kris feels his entire body shaking with fear, just so much from being hysterical.

 

After the flurry of noise down the hall, Kris is rushing out, already calling for Adam through their link, hearing only static in his head as a response, and when he checks on the rooms on the way to their bedroom, with no sign of either Adam or Micah, he settles in front of the bedroom.

 

The door is already swung open, and already he can see glass from the mirror that once sat on top of the dresser scattered across the floor and the top, red smudged around some of the pieces, and a trail of white, freckled feathers leading to the balcony. He swallows past the lump in his throat, and peers in, finding more destruction in their bed with the sheets torn and ripped, and the headboard broken. He follows the feather trail, and shivers, seeing more red, smeared along the floor of the balcony, and the railing.

 

“Oh god…” Kris’ legs buckle under him and he crashes to the floor, trying to breathe. “Oh god, no… no, no, no, no, no…”

 

“Kris?” He hears Katy coming up from behind him, voice small and still scratchy from crying earlier. Kris closes his eyes, searching for Adam through that link, searching and _not finding him_. _Where the fuck is he?!_

 

Standing up on shaking legs, Kris makes his way to the balcony, avoiding the red, and peers over the railing. He doesn’t know whether he's relived or terrified at finding nothing down there. He can feel that familiar pain crawling back through him, flaming and hot across his back. Clenching his teeth, he glances back to Katy, who looks… scared, lost. “I… I have to find Adam…” He draws in a deep breath as she nods and winces. “That… man, Micah he’s…” Kris shakes his head. “I don’t know what it is about him, but I think, he had something to do with this.”

 

Katy just nods slowly, then grabs his phone from the nightstand, handing it over to him. “If… If Adam comes back, I’ll call you.”

 

Kris nods, giving her a quick hug to try and express just how thankful he is for her at that very moment, then turns and runs off the balcony, climbing up the railing and jumping off and climbing as high as he possibly can in the sky.

 

Not seeing any sign of Adam from there, Kris takes a moment to think of any place Adam could go to, someplace that was safe. He pulls out his phone, scrolling through his contacts until he gets to Leila’s number and punches call, dipping a little lower in the sky so the wind doesn’t whip around him as much, then as soon as he hears the phone pick up blurts out. “Leila, have you seen Adam at all?”

 

The mother is quiet for a moment, then when she finally speaks her voice trembled. “No, I… what happened?”

 

Kris groans. “I don’t know.” He sucks in another deep breath. “Look, I’m going to look around for him, could you call around to everyone to find out if they’ve seen them, please?”

 

Leila lets out a breath that crackles through the speaker. “Yes, I’ll call. Tell me if you find him, Kris.”

 

Kris just barely stops himself from throwing his phone away in frustration when she hangs up. He tucks it away in his pocket, then soars up again, combing the ground below him for any sign of Adam.

 

  
He’s been flying for a while, and the pain has nearly doubled from when he’d left. It's getting more difficult to keep steady. He's just passing over some wooded area when something snaps inside of him, clicking in place, and the pain vanishes, and he can just barely feel Adam somewhere close to him.

 

Kris almost falls out of the air at the feeling, and he lets out a sob of relief. He dives down to one of the higher trees, settling on the sturdiest branches and stares out across the woods to see if he can find anything. It takes him a minute, but finally his eye catches an area where it looks like something big hand fallen through the canopy, breaking the branches on the way down. He hops off his perch and flies closer for a better look, then gasps and falls down through the opening when he sees a few familiar white feathers caught in the branches.

 

And there's Adam, looking small and fragile, his wings tucked around him and… Kris brings his hand to his mouth when he sees the long gash through one of the wings, staining the feathers around it red.

 

“Adam.” Kris kneels beside him, reaching out for him then pulling back just before touching him, afraid of hurting him. “Oh my god, _Adam…_ ”

 

Adam makes a soft whimpering sound and peers up from under his wings. “Kris…” His voice is tiny, broken, and Kris goes the extra little bit to bite into his hand to stop from pulling him up into his arms. _I don’t know how badly he’s hurt… I don’t want to risk hurting him more…_

 

“What happened?”

 

Adam sucks in a breath, then winces. “Hurts…” He reaches a hand up, and Kris sees another long gash up his arm that's bleeding profusely. Kris curses and pulls off his shirt, ripping off one of the sleeves and unrolling it before wrapping it around Adam’s arm as a make-shift bandage. He takes the remains of the shirt and presses it firmly to the wound in Adam’s wing. “I…” Adam breathes again, more shallow this time, then looks up at Kris. “He was… going on about something… how… how we were messing with things we shouldn’t be… I don’t know what he was talking about… and…” Adam bites into his lip as the pain gets worse suddenly, and he reaches for Kris’ hand. “K-Kris… it, it hurts so much…”

 

Kris bites into his lip to stop from breaking into sobs. He squeezes Adam’s hand gently, then startles when his phone goes off in his pocket. He pulles it out and flips it open without checking the screen. “H-hello?”

 

“Kris?” Leila’s voice comes through the phone, worried, and Kris grimaces. “Did you find Adam?”

 

Kris draws in a breath and nods. “Yeah… I-I found him…”

 

“Kris. What’s wrong? What happened?” Her voice getting more panicked now.

 

“He’s… hurt. Real bad. I…” He looks around. “I don’t know where we are but… I can try to get him to a main road, and call and ambulance.”

 

“Oh god… I… What can I do to help?”

 

Kris shifts forward a bit, trying to find the best way to at least help Adam onto his feet. “I… I don’t know. I’ll… When help comes I’ll call you.”

 

“Okay. Okay…” Leila sounds like she's just barely keeping herself from breaking down, and Kris immediately feels guilty for it. “Just… take care of him, please.”

 

Kris nods, putting the phone away even before he hears a dial tone then turns his attention fully on Adam. “Okay, is there any place that doesn’t hurt so I can help you get up?”

 

Adam whimpers and shakes his head. “Don’t want to move… hurts…”

 

Kris chokes back tears at his lover’s pain. “I… I know it hurts, baby, but you need to get help.”

 

Adam hesitates for a moment, then slowly nods. “My side, it… it doesn’t feel like it’s hurt…”

 

“Okay…” Kris grips Adam’s by his good arm, then moves his hand under him, curling his fingers around his waist. “Alright, on three.”

 

Adam cries out when Kris pushes him up, but after a while they manage to get Adam standing. After a few tries, though, they realize that getting Adam through the trees the way he's injured isn’t going to be easy, even with Kris helping him. Kris finally lifts Adam up, waiting until Adam’s arms are curled snug around him, then shoots up through the tree tops. He makes his way to a road that seems to lead toward the city and lands as gently as he can, setting Adam down and doing a quick check over him to make sure Kris didn't hurt him anymore, then pulls his phone out and dials 911, checking for the street signs before the receptionist picks up.

 

“We’ll have help there right away, just stay where you are.” Kris nods then Adam groans beneath him and he hangs up, pressing the shirt to Adam’s injured wing. He looks over Adam’s other wing, seeing several feathers missing, the skin below red and raw. Both wings look more skin than feather, now, and bruises are already showing up on Adam’s arms and face, and he has scratches from the fall through the trees all over and Kris will bet at least a few broken bones.

 

Adam wheezes and slurs. “Everthin'ss all… dissy, and cold… Tired…”

 

 _Fuck, that’s… that’s bad._ “No, Adam, you need to stay awake.” He searches for something to try and keep Adam awake, then finally blurts out. “Do you remember this morning?”

 

Adam’s blue eyes flutter back open and he breathes for a minute, before he smiling weakly. “Yeah.” He croaks. “I ‘member…”

 

Kris wraps his wings around Adam and nods. “I was so… nervous. And I guess I was freaking out enough for you to wake up…” He lets out a wet laugh, brushing a hand through Adam’s hair. “You’ve been so amazing… so brave, for the both of us…” Kris laces his fingers through thick, black strands, grimacing when he feels something sticky, warm and wet. “I love you so much, so much, Adam…”

 

In the distance, Kris can hear sirens. He feels relief flood him, then leans down to kiss him, putting as much passion into it as possible. _Please… just… be alright, please… you have to be alright._

_  
_


	19. Holding Your Scarred Heart In Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam's fate is revealed; the attack wears on everyone else around Adam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from All The Same by Sick Puppies.

  
Adam feels like he's drowning, in something thick and heavy, something that makes it so, so hard to resurface. He doesn’t remember much. He remembers… Kris, Kris was there, Kris was… crying. He looked so scared and… his hands were stained with something red. Now that Adam thinks about it, he does remember seeing a lot of that red just before everything went black…

 

There was another face… _evil, snarling, menacing_ … “It’s not right, you know.” “What isn’t right?” Adam felt nervous asking that. “What you’re doing, what you are, it’s wrong, just… wearing them like you’re so proud, like you’re not the freak you are.” Adam felt… panicky, and then there was… shattering, something shattering… He ran and… pain, red, so much _red_ and _pain_ and _burning_ and _flames_ … The sky was darker, everything was darker, it was so _hard_ to move, to _breathe_ , nails scratching at him, he was pulled back down, his chest hurt, there were stars… and glitter, he remembers the glitter.

 

He loses everything else, what he does have is in bits and pieces and… where is he again? And, where is Kris? Kris was just here, he was, he remembers Kris, he knows Kris was right there and now he's gone and what if… what if he – _evil, snarling, bad, so red, so much red…_ \- hurt Kris?! No, no Adam won’t… he _can’t_ allow that!

 

He, he's going to help Kris, find him, hold him, protect him, even though everything hurts, he’ll fight until his last breath to protect him. _No one_ , not even that vicious man is going to hurt his-

 

“Ow…”

 

“Adam?!”

 

_Kris?_

 

  
Adam blinks awake, feeling like he's resurfacing out of deep, deep water with weights on his limbs. He instantly closes his eyes again; it's really, really bright.

 

“Adam, oh god, Adam.” He hears Kris sobbing and feels arms wrapping around him. Determined to see Kris, make sure he's safe and unhurt because… someone was… someone wants to hurt him… he opens his eyes again, slowly, facing the too-bright lights to see his Kris, looking… wrecked.

 

He looks like he hasn’t slept in days, and he looks so thin and fragile; the tears pouring down his face make him look even more breakable.

 

“Kris?” Adam croaks, surprised at how rough his own voice sounds. “What happened? Where are we?”

 

Kris lets out a breath, trying to calm himself down, then pulls himself back down into Adam, as if he can’t stand to have any room between the two of them. “Hospital. You were… Micah did this to you.”

 

Adam tenses up at the name. _That’s him, that man, he…_

 

Then it all floods back; Katy asking them to leave her and Kris alone, and Micah talking. “So, this whole… winged, thing, huh?” He huffed, looking over their dresser, and Adam had the urge to rip him away, to keep him back from anything of theirs, in case that dark… aura that seemed to surround him stained it. “It’s a little crazy, isn’t it?”

 

Adam hummed, not really acknowledging, hoping for Kris and Katy to finish up their little conversation so he could just get away.

 

Micah continued. “It’s not right, you know.”

 

Adam paused at that, feeling something in the room… shift. It made him nervous, like something was about to jump out and attack him. “What isn’t right?”

 

Micah chuckled, fingers tracing the frame of the mirror sitting on top of the dresser. “What you’re doing, what you are, it’s wrong, just… wearing them like you’re so proud, like you’re not the freak you are.”

 

Micah’s fist swung back, and Adam panicked, turning on his heel to run for the balcony, trying to send a message to Kris – _danger!danger!danger!_ – when something tore into his wing. A scream ripped out of him and he managed to rip his way out of Micah’s grip to fly out of the balcony, only to get pulled back down, his chest smacking hard against the railing and feeling something break there. He gasped, pain blooming sharp inside of him, and fell a few feet, dragging Micah down and off the balcony. He felt something rip against his right arm, and pushed at the man, seeing him hit the ground with a loud thud, and falling just a few feet away. The impact sent more throbbing pain through him, but he pushed it down, forcing himself to get up and away, running as fast as he could to get away. He heard something crack behind him, and his fear automatically had him in the air again. It hurt, more than anything else, but he pushed through it, kept pushing through it until he just couldn’t anymore and then he fell, fell, fell until he hit the ground and everything went black.

 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck_ …” Adam tries to breathe, but every time he does it makes pain blossom in his lungs and stomach. He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to push the images away, but they just won’t stop.

 

Suddenly Kris is gone, and Adam panics. “ _NO!_ Kris! Kris where are you?!” There are several men – doctors, he realizes – that move around him, then he feels a prick in his side, and he's slipping back under the weighted waters.

 

  
“Kristopher, sit down!” Leila snaps, letting out a sigh when he complies, looking guilty. She can only watch him pace for so long before she snaps and just bursts into that operating room.

 

Instead, she draws in a breath, closes her eyes and tries to remember exactly what the doctor told her and the rest of her family, Kris included.

 

“Adam had an episode, a sort of… revisit to the incident. It seemed to frightened him to the point that he further damaged one of his ribs, and tore open the stitches on his… wing.” The doctor hesitated for a moment, and at the answering glare of everyone in the room, he cleared his throat and continued. “We had to rush him into surgery for it; he’d lost too much blood in the incident to leave it unattended for long and we’re going to try attaching a cuff around the wing to keep it from moving so it’ll be less likely to reopen again.”

 

She couldn’t believe it when she first saw her son, like it was some sick joke being played on her. But that was her Adam, her baby, all battered and brushed, broken everywhere, because of some monster. He… he hadn’t woken up in days, and Kris happened to be the one in the room – he was usually the one in the room – when Adam woke up and… had his episode.

 

Now they're waiting, hoping for him to get better. Kris’ family is there, too, waiting just as anxiously for Adam’s recovery as they are, and their mixed group of friends. Even outside, there's a group of fans, outside with candles and get well wishes that seem to have taken over Adam’s hospital room. She sniffles quietly and dries her eyes.

 

Kim settles next to her, handing her a cup and smiling softly. “Adam will get through this, I know he will.” She squeezes Leila’s hand as a few more tears fall. “Your boy is strong, if anyone could do it, he could.”

 

Leila smiles, genuinely for the first time in days, and wraps her fingers around the cup, more for warmth than to drink, and nods. “Thank you.” She lets out a little surprised sound as Kim hums and wraps her arms around her, comfortingly, a mother giving support to another in need. She closes her eyes and just let the tears run down her face, letting go of that strength she’s kept for so long, just for a few seconds, then watches the door for anyone with more news to walk through.

 

  
When Adam wakes up again, Leila is in his room. She's holding his hand, head down, trying to give her strength to her son through the contact, when his fingers twitch and he groans awake, then asks for Kris as soon as he can get through the gravel in his voice.

 

And… that leads Kris to where he was now, sitting at Adam’s side with Adam looking over him carefully, the hand not attached to an IV stretched out to search over his face and neck and the tops of his wings, as much as he can reach without moving.

 

“You’re okay…” Adam smiles, then his smile drops and he set his eyes on his lap. “So… how, how bad is it?”

 

Kris flinches. “Is what?” He shrinks under Adam’s glare then sighs. He isn’t sure if he should tell Adam, after what happened the last time that he mentioned something with the attack. “You… um, they’re trying to heal your wings first, since, they seem to help with the rest of your body, but, um, the damage was pretty bad, and they’re thinking it’ll leave a huge scar and nothing will grow back in that area.”

 

He brushes a hand through his hair and stares down the fraying knee on his jeans, plucking at the strings as he continues. “You had several broken ribs, and before you woke up they had to put you on a breathing machine because it was too difficult for you to breathe on your own.” Kris shudders at that memory. When they’d allowed him into the room he wasn’t expecting Adam to look any better than when he’d found him but… he didn’t expect… he didn’t know what to expect.

 

“And your right arm is fractured and they had to stitch up the cut there, and both legs have a sprain and a break.” He pauses to try and remember if that was everything then glances up at Adam and remembers. “And they put a cuff on that wing to try and keep it from moving, so the stitches can heal better.”

 

Adam nods slowly, biting his lip slightly as he takes it all in. “And… how long am I supposed to be here?”

 

Kris hums and reaches up, taking Adam’s hand and stroking over his knuckles. “At least until that wing heals, and then probably a few days after to make sure everything else is healing alright.”

 

“Okay…” Adam sighs and twitches. “I’m going to guess that they’re not going to let me get out of this bed to walk around for a while, right?”

 

Kris smiles slightly. “Yeah.” He pressed a kiss to Adam’s knuckles. “You need to get better. Staying still, as much as you’ll hate that, will help.”

 

Adam pouts, then looks back over Kris and frowns. “And, how are you doing?” His frown deepens. “You look like you haven’t been eating. Or sleeping.”

 

Kris huffs. “I haven’t. Not really.” He squeezed Adam’s hand lightly. “I was terrified after… everything. I was so scared of losing you, of what it’d do to you.”

 

Adam shakes his head. “That’s not an excuse.” He shifts around in the bed, then flinches, and Kris stands up to push him back down when he tries to sit up. He glares. “My mom’s here, she should’ve forced you into taking care of yourself, too.”

 

Kris chuckles. “My mama’s here, too. And they both tried but…” He shrugs. “I can’t force myself to do it.” Kris shiftes on his feet then looks toward the door. “Do you want me to get her? The rest of your family’s here, too. Along with mine, and Brad’s here, and Cassidy and both Allison’s, a mob of fans outside…”

 

Adam laughs. “Okay, I get it, everyone I’ve ever known has come here.” He waits a moment then squeezes Kris’ hand as well as he can. “Yeah but… I want you to stay here, if you can?”

 

Kris doesn’t hesitate when he answers. “I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.” He leans over Adam, kissing him lightly on the lips – and it's the best feeling he’s had in a while, for at least a week – before pulling away reluctantly. “I’m just going to go get her and come right back.”

 

Adam pauses a moment, then nods and slowly releases his hand. “Okay.”

 

Kris bobs his head, then leans down to kiss Adam again before leaving to get Leila – he needs the amazing feeling it gives him, it gives him more sustenance than anything else ever can.

 

As promised, he's back with Leila – and Eber and Neil – in just a few moments, and he settles himself carefully at the end of Adam’s cot, avoiding any contact with either of the casts on his legs, and lightly curls his fingers with Adam’s.

 

After some fussing from his parents and quiet support from his brother, the room is quiet again, Leila and Eber just holding his other hand, in silence. Neil eventually speaks up from beside Adam’s cot. “So what are we going to do about the sicko who did this?”

 

Kris tenses up slightly, looking over Adam worriedly, afraid that it could set him off again, but Adam just smiles at him weakly, then shrugs to his brother. “I don’t know.” He sighs. “I don’t even remember what happened to him after…” He glances over to Kris again. “Has anyone gone to look around outside the house? He fell off with me when I came off the balcony.”

 

Kris nods. “There was no one there. I didn’t see anyone when I went looking for you afterward.”

 

Adam bites his lip and bobs his head, settling his eyes on his lap. “I don’t… If he’s still…” He swallows. “I’m… I’m afraid he could… try it again.”

 

Adam’s good wing curls in and around his stomach, his eyes squeezing shut. Kris lifts his hand up carefully, stroking through the feathers that were left, watching Adam slowly relax with the touch. He looks up to Kris and bites his lip. “I, I want you... Can someone talk to Lane? I… I don’t know what to do.”

 

Neil nods. “We already told her about everything we knew, but yeah, I’ll ask her to come if that’s what you want.”

 

Adam nods, then pulls Kris a touch closer, closing his eyes for a moment, letting Kris’ touch and his family’s presence keep his mind away from the memories of what happened just barely a week ago. He shudders when Kris presses his lips lightly to Adam’s temple. _It’ll be okay…_ Kris’ voice echoes in his head. _We’ll help you get through this, and if he is still out there, we’ll be alright._

 

  
Lane arrives only an hour later, she pauses when she sees Adam, her hand going up to her mouth before she clears her throat and walks up to him. “So, um, Adam, what is it?”

 

Adam shifts a little bit, sucking in a sharp breath at how the movement also shifts the cuff on his wing. “I… I don’t really know what to do about… the… Micah…” He flinches internally at the name then pushes through, squeezing Kris’ hand. “He… he’s the one who…” He bites into his lip and drops his head, and Kris leans over him, kissing his temple, trying to give him as much strength as he can with the simple touch.

 

“Are you sure?” Lane looks over him. “It’s a pretty big charge…”

 

Adam nods. “I’m sure…” He feels himself start tearing up as everything from that attack, every image floods his mind. “I… I couldn’t forget it, that look on his face…”

 

Lane pauses a moment, then nods. “Police are going to want to question you, but I can ask them to put a search for him now.” She lets out a breath. “PR asked me what to say about your condition, but at the time they asked you were… unconscious, so I told them not to release that you were attacked. As far as everyone knows you’re injured, but they don’t know the extent of it.”

 

Adam nods then looks up to Lane. “I… do think I want to tell everyone about what happened.” He frowns. “I think… If someone like me knew, it could maybe help them be a little more careful about who they come around, and anyone who’s not sure about how they feel about us, that maybe they’ll be more supportive about it.” He lets out a breath then looks up to Kris. “Do you think maybe I could go see those fans you talked about?”

 

Kris smiles softly. “We can talk to the doctor once he comes in to check up on you and maybe I can wheel you out to see them.”

 

Adam grins. “Thank you.”

 

Lane looks between the two of them, then smiles softly. “I think I’ll leave you guys alone.”

 

“Lane?” Adam’s assistant turns back toward him. “Thank you for coming here…” He gently reaches out a hand, and she quickly rushes back to him so he doesn’t have to reach that far to grab her hand. “It means a lot.”

 

Lane clears her throat. “It’s… It’s my job.” She releases his hand and turns away quickly. “I’ll come back sometime later. Get better.”

 

The boys watch Lane rush out, and then look over at each other with knowing smiles.

 

A moment later Adam pulls Kris down toward him, and Kris hesitates a moment before moving himself so he's settled next to Adam, without hurting him in anyway and avoiding his IV. Kris lay his head beside Adam’s neck on the pillow with him, feeling Adam’s good arm curling around him. Adam tilts Kris’ head up, just enough to press their lips together for a second, then going back in for a longer kiss, both men feeling lighter and higher and stronger because of it.


End file.
